


Redemption

by papyruspie



Series: Lore Redemption [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Family, Gen, Healing, Mystery, The Lore story we deserved but never got
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 22,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papyruspie/pseuds/papyruspie
Summary: Some time after Descent, Lore wakes to find himself in his brother’s place. Strange things keep happening once the Enterprise crew gets Data back, and it seems Lore must help them to find out what’s going on. He’ll have to deal with his emotions like never before though...
Relationships: Data & Lore (Star Trek), Lore & Deanna Troi, Lore & Original Character
Series: Lore Redemption [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071692
Comments: 95
Kudos: 39





	1. Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fic, and I’m aware the writing is probably... meh. But I was really inspired to write this, and how can I get better at writing if I don’t write? I hope you enjoy the story! There will be some swears, because I really think Lore would cuss. Chapters may be on the short side, but hopefully I’ll make up for that by having plenty of them!
> 
> Oh btw this takes place probably after All Good Things... but before Generations.

**Ch 1**

Blinking. _He_ was blinking. It was a dark room, only shadows and vague shapes visible to him. He sat up. Or, attempted to. He was strapped down. As systems booted up, he tried to remember. _What happened?_ It hit him immediately.

The Borg. Data. Being deactivated by his own brother. His family seemed to have a tendency to do that to him. No time to dwell on that. He needed to figure out where he was (conveniently made difficult for him) and who would’ve reactivated him. 

Data? Doubtful. His _dear brother_ was far too righteous to reactivate him without some “greater good” reason, and certainly wouldn’t be keeping him hostage in a dark room.

Whoever did this was pretty damn smart, getting the right materials to hold an android in place. Resourceful too. That kind of stuff wouldn’t be easy to get your hands on. And what the hell did they want with him? Lore shuddered at the thought. He’d rather it be his brother, all condescending and _perfect_ , than some stranger who wanted him for his positronic brain and had no respect for him as a life form. And the odds were, it was some greedy asshole wanting to replicate his father’s success for money, android slaves, or both. _Marvellous_. Well, there didn’t seem to be anything he could do, really. Except test that his vocal systems were working...

“Hey! Who did all this? I’m sure you’re somewhere nearby! Talk to me, you coward!” Goddamit, Lore was scared. What the fuck was going on? _Never let your enemies know your weaknesses, just act confident,_ he reminded himself.   
“HELLO?” No reply still. This was getting quite unsettling. Then, a blinding light appeared, along with a shimmering sound.

“Data, are you alright?” It was the Enterprise crew. They thought he was Data? Okay... sure, let’s go along with that. Lore couldn’t see any other options for getting out of there.

_Play the part of your perfect brother, Lore. Nothing you haven’t done before._

“I believe I am functioning normally. However, I cannot remember the events leading up to this situation.” That sounded pretty Data-like, right?

The blind guy started talking. _Geordi LaForge_ , Lore’s memory banks supply.  
“I’ll run a diagnostic on you later. For now, we have to get out of here!” Lore would have to find a way out of _that_ later. As similar as he and Data may be, there was still differences between their positronic brains. Maybe he’d be gone before Geordi got the chance to check. Lore didn’t really have a plan yet.

“Agreed. I am currently strapped down to a table. Are you able to find any mechanisms to free me?”  
And how ironic, last time LaForge and him had met, the man had been stuck in a similar situation, tied to a table for testing. The crew was able to free “Data” and beam aboard the Enterprise with no interruptions from the mysterious kidnapper. What to do now, what to do...


	2. Faking It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, I’m just now realizing how short some of these chapters are... sorry about that!! There’s two chapters for today at least?  
> Hopefully my characterization of Lore is okay, he’s a tricky one to write.

** Ch 2 **

One of the first things Lore noticed when he arrived on the Enterprise was what he was wearing. A familiar gold Starfleet uniform. Someone planned this out very well. They  _ wanted  _ him to take Data’s place. _But why?_ Lore contemplated from his brother’s quarters.

Where was Data then? It looked like Lore would have to stay on the Enterprise a while to get some more information. Oh boy. Mentally preparing himself for a longer stint as Data, Lore internally sighed. This was gonna suck. Living with these  _people_ ,  who were lesser than him, and yet would believe they are more.   
  
_ Remember, no contractions, no emotions. It’s just two rules! _

He’d make it through, but he wouldn’t be happy. He’d never had to masquerade as Data for very long before. Never really had to worry about blowing his cover. And this time he would have to deal with nuances such as faking Data’s friendships. And taking care of a pet, if the cat wandering around was any indication. Oh goodie. 

His badge chirped. 

“Picard to Data.”

“Yes Sir?”  _Oh dangit, I knew this quiet wouldn’t last_.

“There will be a meeting with all senior staff in 1800 hours, concerning your.. incident. If you’re feeling up to it.”

_ Okay, now this is tricky.  _ Lore had noticed he felt... saner. Data’s emotion chip was gone from his matrix. But that didn’t mean Data had it necessarily. It could have been taken when he was kidnapped. That did seem most likely.  Okay, no emotions time. Hope this works out.  “I do not ‘feel’ any way regarding these recent events. I will be there.”

“Very well. Picard out.”

_ Phew. 1800 hours, huh? Can’t wait. _

* * *

The meeting was... not bad, actually. Lore was asked some questions and they hypothesized what could have happened to him. He had to make up a bit of his story, but the main point got across. Someone that knew how to reactivate him had done all this. Lore could not think of anyone who’d have the knowledge and resources to do this. Apparently, the useless Enterprise crew didn’t either, and nobody else was aboard the small shuttle when they found him. Nothing was left behind except for himself and the table that held him in place. Oh well. At least their equipment could be of some use in investigating things himself.

As he started to leave the room, that troublesome LaForge stopped him. “Data,”

Internally, Lore screamed. On the outside, he was a blank face, asking, “Yes, Geordi?”

“I was just wondering how you’re doing. Did you still want me to run a diagnostic?”

“No, that is not necessary. I was simply disoriented earlier due to my deactivation. I have run a self-diagnostic, and there is nothing wrong.”

“And you’re okay?”

“I am functioning normally.”

Geordi gave a smile that was supposed to simulate reassurance. “Okay. I’m here for you if you need though.” 

_ Suuure you are. _ “Thank you,” Lore nodded.

“See you later!” Geordi waved as he walked away.

Crisis averted. Thank goodness. Lore couldn’t stand talking to any of these people for another second. Finally, he could just go back to his quarters for a while to be  alone  before he had to start his first shift as Data. 

“Hello, Data.”

Lore froze.

_Oh shit, I forgot about her._

It was Deanna Troi, the empath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it’s difficult to tell, most of the italics is what Lore is thinking.  
> And... we get a cliffhanger! Ooh, what’s Deanna up to?


	3. The Counsellor

** Ch 3**

“Hello, Counsellor.” Lore tried to calm himself.

_She can’t know that much. _

But any fear she picked up on would only make her more suspicious than she likely already was. 

“Can I speak to you, in private?”, she asked in a casual manner.

Lore kept up the act that everything was fine.“Of course. I was just heading to my quarters, if you would like to join me.”

She nodded in agreement. “Sounds good!” Troi responded with a chipper smile.

_ What is she up to? _

They walked to Data’s quarters in tense, awkward silence; the awkwardness remained even once inside. Both expected the other to start the conversation. Lore tried to look nonchalant, standing in place across from Troi and keeping that signature blank face plastered on. He was getting anxious, though.

_ Could she know it’s me? Or has she come up with some stupid theory?  _

And if she knew it was him, she’d want him deactivated... he didn’t want to go back to that dark emptiness again, where he didn’t exist and wasn’t aware of anything. That was the one drawback to being an artificial life form. Any other criminal would just be sentenced to life in prison. But he got temporary death.

He decided to bite before she could sense his nerves. “What did you wish to speak to me about?”

She seemed startled by his sudden question. “I, well, this is hard to just say, but... you aren’t Data, are you?”

_Shit_.  What should he do now? Deny? Play dumb? Make up some bs story that he’s some alien trying to observe them? 

Lore must’ve taken too long thinking about it, because he was taken away from his thoughts with a

“Lore? Is that you?” 

_ Dang, that takes guts to just outright ask. She knows I could kill her  easily._

“No. Who is this ‘Lore’?” He blurted out. Play dumb it is.  _ Feel  _ the confusion. Lore randomly accessed his one of his early memories on Omicron Theta. The time he felt the most lost in his life...

* * *

He didn’t understand why the colonists were so afraid of him.

_I’m just like them, but better! I’m an advancement in technology! Shouldn’t they be happy? Father’s happy, and mother is too! I was happy. But now the colonists are making me feel... not good. _

He searched his databanks for unpleasant emotions. “Jealousy, anger, sadness, grief....” 

_Sadness. Unhappiness, sorrow, misery._ That one sounded right. He wanted to cry. He still didn’t get it! Why... why did they flinch when they saw him? Avert their eyes, ignore him, and whisper around him? He hadn’t done anything bad. All he’d done... was be created. And they  hated him for it. Well, he didn’t like feeling sad. It was so painful! He didn’t like the settlers for making him feel horrible, or how they treated him. It was  _ them  _ who deserved to be hated! He focused on this new, burning feeling inside. If he felt that instead, maybe he wouldn’t feel sad anymore...

* * *

Deanna blinked. “You just went through a range of emotions so rapidly, I couldn’t place them all.” 

_ Well, that was the drawback to accessing memories from that time. It wasn’t just confusion. Of course it couldn’t be  just confusion.  _

“What could you place?” Lore asked, curious.

“Lots of confusion. But also a deep sorrow. Bitterness, even. And... hatred.” She looked puzzled herself.

Lore couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud, too emotionally drained from the memory to keep acting. “You got it spot on! Whaddya mean, ‘couldn’t place them all?’” 

“Really? You’re admitting it?”

Lore hesitated. “Admitting what?”

“That you felt sad. That is often difficult to admit, especially when you’ve had a hard life and felt the need to hide any weaknesses.” She gave a meaningful glance to Lore, her dark eyes staring into his citron ones. 

Lore gulped. What could he say to fix this? 

“I suppose even the most hardened criminals have things they get sad over.” 

“Mmm,” she hummed in agreement, taking a weary step closer to him. “And would you say that you’re a ‘hardened criminal’ then?” 

“I don’t know, you’re the empath, you tell me!”

Deanna nodded. “You’re annoyed by my asking.” She paused a moment, taking in all of his emotions. “You believe you are considered a criminal, but feel your actions were justified, don’t you?”

“I had every reason to do what I did!” Lore bursted.

_ There’s no winning when you’re against someone who knows what you’re feeling.  _

“Okay. I believe you. Now, just tell me, Lore - Why are you here?”

_ Guess there’s no point in pretending now. _

“That’s your first question? Really?”

Troi was taken aback. “What?”

“You think I  planned this?  How! Come on, I was pretty damn stuck when you guys showed up!”

“But... that doesn’t make sense. Surely it was a trick.”

“Uh huh. Then tell me, how did I, from my  _deactivated_ state, contact someone to reactivate me?”

“You do seem to be telling the truth. Someone wanted to switch your and Data’s places, but why?”

“You think  _I know_?  I wake up strapped to a table, and nobody’s around until the  Enterprise  arrives!” 

“Well, what  are  you going to do? Keep going around as Data?”

Lore was confused. Did she mean she’d actually  _ let  _ him get away with this?

“What, you’re not gonna report me to your precious crew?”

“No, I’ve sensed no real malevolence from you, only confusion, worry, and fear.”

Lore scoffed, despite the fact that it was true. His biggest concern  was being found out and getting deactivated. 

“What are you going to do now?” Deanna repeated.

Lore started pacing around the room. “Stay here awhile,  I guess. The Enterprise is my best bet for researching who the hell’s behind all this. You’re- you’re really just letting me do this?” He was in disbelief.

“Yes. I will not tell anyone of your true identity; however, I will not help you hide it either. And the moment I feel your emotions change to violence, you’ll be in the brig.” 

“Huh. Fair enough.” And so an uneasy truce was formed, for the time being at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, another chapter!  
> And a longer one at that!


	4. Revelation

** Ch 4 **

It had been a week since Lore arrived on the Enterprise, and he had been able to make minimal progress in his research. His imitation of his brother was still going well, and Troi hadn’t stabbed him in the back. Yet. She had to have an ulterior motive for her silence.

Lore’s searches of the Enterprise databanks eliminated his one theory - the Borg. The group apart from the collective, _his_ Borg, were trying to become individuals, and had a new leader - that soft-hearted Hugh. Didn’t seem like they’d be interested in getting Lore back for any reason then. He sat at his brother’s computer, frustrated by the lack of information.  
  
He’d also looked into any information on Dr. Soong’s work that he could find. Maybe a little bit selfish, but if he could be fixed-! Lore would finally know happiness again. He barely remembered what true joy felt like, just the thrill of making a kill.

Hmm. A dark curiosity that had been in the back of his mind emerged again. “Computer, access information on Lore Soong.” 

“Level 3 entry access codes required.” The computer chimed.

_ I’m too dangerous for the public’s knowledge, huh?  _

Thankfully, figuring out access codes was rather easy for a Soong-type android. “Code alpha 274 gamma 46.”

“Access granted.”

Lore read all the text across the screen rapidly, only absorbing the parts of importance to him. 

“Lore, the first successfully created android by Dr. Noonien Soong. How successful he actually was is debatable, as the android’s emotional programming was unstable.”

“...impersonated Lt. Commander Data aboard the Enterprise, almost succeeding in sacrificing the ship’s crew to the being that was known as the Crystalline Entity.”

“...manipulated Lt. Commander Data into assisting him with his visions for a new age of inorganic life forms.”

“Current status: deactivated, and dismantled. His parts remain in Starfleet high security holding.”

So that’s where he had been, held onto by the Federation. Joy. 

And that’s where Data would be now, wouldn’t it? “High security holding”. You’d definitely need access codes for  _that_.

* * *

“Come in,” Troi’s voice called.

“Someone from Starfleet’s behind this.” Lore burst into Deanna’s chambers. 

“Data? What are you talking about?”Commander Riker asked, from his comfortably close spot beside Deanna. “Have you remembered something?”

_ Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit! _

“No Commander. I simply... came to a realization.”

Now, this was  _ not fair!  _ Sure, maybe it was his rash judgment, rushing in there, but he couldn’t explain how he knew a Starfleet officer was involved without revealing his identity. Was it really so important anymore though? If they  _ needed  _ his help, they couldn’t deactivate him. At least, not  yet .

“A realization of what?” Deanna asked.

“I will... explain later. We need a staff meeting for this.”

“This sounds serious. I’ll call a meeting right away.” Riker jumped into action, pressing his badge immediately. “Riker to Picard,”

“...thanks.” Lore said, leaving and preparing himself for a ton of anger and accusations headed his way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ignore my horrible explanation with Lore using the access code, ha.  
> It looks like Starfleet’s involved in this mess! Oh boy.


	5. Ta-Da! It’s Me!

** Ch 5 **

“So, Mr. Data, I believe you have something very important to tell us?” Captain Picard asked, commencing the meeting. 

“Yes,” Lore agreed. “I’m sure you’ll all be shocked - a Starfleet officer must have been behind my kidnapping.”

Chaos broke out as everyone began speaking on top of each other.

“Starfleet?” 

“How?”

“But why?”

“It couldn’t be Maddox, could it?”

“Wait, ‘ _I’M _ sure’?” Geordi LaForge was the first to notice.

_ Theeeree we go. Not my most dramatic reveal, but nicely done nonetheless. _

The room went quiet as they realized that “Data” had indeed used contractions in his sentence. 

“Lore? Is that you?” Riker questioned.

Lore sarcastically applauded him. “Yes, bravo, you’re so very smart. It’s me, Data’s. evil. brother.”

“What do you want,” Picard uttered quietly.

“Relax, I’m not going ta kill ya! Not right now at least. I want to know who’s behind this, they must have one hell of a motive, switching Data and me around. I simply want to find them, and beat ‘em up!” Lore titled his head, thinking. “And throw in some torture, before killing them. They deserve that much.” he spat. 

“How can you be so sure?” Dr. Crusher asked.

“Well, why do you think they wanted a hold on me for a little while? Someone’s looking to replicate my father’s success, though I doubt they’ll be so successful.” 

A voice in the back of Lore’s mind spoke. _But was he even successful with you? So twisted inside by emotions, he didn’t take pride in you once the cascade failures started. Not once he saw your instability._

Lore shook off the thoughts, leaning back in his chair and propping his legs up on the table for dramatic effect, and hopefully distracting the crew from his long pause. “They want android slaves, android warriors, who knows? But I can guarantee it’s for their own personal gain, and it’s probably going to get nasty. And nobody wants that, do we? I hear some of us have advocated for my dear brother’s rights before...”

Picard sighed. “That is true. However, as I’m sure you know, it’s quite difficult for us to just trust your word. For all we know, this is all just a part in some bigger scheme!”

“Yeah. What if this is somehow all a trick to reactivate Lore?” Riker chimed in.

“You are suggesting this is not Lore?” Picard wondered.

Deanna spoke up. “It is Lore, Captain. I can sense his emotions clearly.”

Picard gave her a serious look. “Counsellor, surely you must have sensed these emotions before today.”

She nodded, looking like a scolded child. “I apologize for not informing you, sir. I could sense that he had no intent to harm us however. I thought it best not to provoke him by revealing his identity.”

Picard seemed uncertain what to do about this. He settled upon saying, “Very well. We will discuss the consequences of your actions at a later time. For now, we have more important things to deal with.” “Mr. Worf, assemble a security team and take Lore to the brig.”

“Aye Sir.” Worf said immediately, and Lore was escorted out of the conference room.


	6. Uncertainty

** Ch 6 **

Once Lore was confirmed to be secured in the brig, Picard continued the meeting. “Counsellor, I’m sorry, but I must bring this up again! Why would you not bring this to my attention sooner? Mr. Data has been missing from our ship for a week, and you didn’t think it wise to tell anyone?” Picard was seething.

Deanna understood why. She knew her decision seemed very strange to the rest of the crew. Herself even. She’d doubted herself at times over the last week, wanting to talk to Will or the Captain, but... she had made an agreement. She had the sense that if she didn’t give Lore this chance to be nonviolent, he’d never get one again. Even though she knew Lore would’ve revealed himself soon enough, he’d taken more time than she expected...

“I understand. I myself didn’t exactly know what I was thinking. I spoke to Lore and came to the agreement that I would not tell anyone unless I sensed violent emotions from him. I expected him to reveal his identity on his own sooner than this.”

Geordi spoke, sounding on edge. “What I don’t understand is, what  _ were  _ you sensing from him? Surely not happiness and peace.” 

“No, not that. Just... confusion, fear, worry. For the most part.”

“The most part?” Dr. Crusher asked gently.

“Well... yes. When I confronted him, I wasn’t sure of anything except that he wasn’t Data. He tried to play dumb, but then I got a surge of emotions from him, rapidly. Confusion, and fear, sadness, then, a burning hatred. It was gone immediately after.” She was haunted by what she had felt from Lore... perhaps it had clouded her judgment on the matter of hiding his identity.

Riker spoke. “Could Lore have been manipulating his own emotions?”

“Hmm,” Geordi thought. “I don’t see how that would be possible. He was able to manipulate Data’s emotions, but that was with the help of the emotion chip. Lore doesn’t even have that now.”

“It was.... similar to when someone is thinking about a memory that has strong emotions attached to it. For as long as they’re immersed in the memory, I can sense the emotions from it.” Deanna considered.

“You think Lore was thinking of a memory in that moment, then?” Picard seemed lost in thought himself.

“Yes. I think it’s possible that he was trying to throw me off the trail by feeling different emotions. But Captain... this is why I couldn’t just turn Lore over to you. He felt such pain in those memories. As ship’s counsellor, I have a duty to help all aboard the ship. And let’s not forget, he is Data’s family.”

“What do you mean, how could that possibly help Lore?” Riker seemed doubtful.

“From what we know of Lore,” Deanna started, stretching back in her chair, “once he had shown emotional instability, turning to his darker feelings, he was shut off, abandoned. She paused, trying to understand how Lore would’ve seen things.  
“Then he wakes up to see a replacement- a ‘better’ him, in Data. He has had a life filled with moments which fuelled these negative emotions, and while on the Enterprise for this past week, he hasn’t been triggered. He’s been relatively calm, if bitter, from what I’ve sensed. He needed this time to just be himself, unburdened by hatred.”

Geordi sounded skeptical too. “Don’t you remember what he did last time? He’s not exactly the most sane person.” 

She nodded. “I know.” She remembered Geordi being tested on, her and the Captain being helpless, Data turning on them... it was hard to look past that, but she knew that understanding a patient and what the reasons for their actions were was the first step to healthy change.  
“But we must remember, he had Data’s emotion chip in him. That likely drove him to an even further degree of violence.”

Geordi laughed. “After all we’ve seen from Lore, and you sound ready to take him on as a regular patient.” 

Deanna nodded firmly. “I will counsel him, if he’ll let me.” 

Picard let out a small gasp. “Counsellor, are you sure about this?”

“Yes. I see the potential in him, like in any person, for change. I know the next step we must take is to get Data back, and I’m sure Lore knows that too. Seeing Data will bring up a lot of unwelcome feelings from him. I’m hoping this time Lore had to himself helped him prepare.”

Picard nodded. “Very well. This is an extremely serious matter. Not even I have the security codes to access Lore’s parts.”

The group all gave a solemn look, understanding the severity of what had happened. Someone very high up in Starfleet was behind this. 

“I want all of you to stay alert as we head to the Starbase where Mr. Data is. Meeting adjourned.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I’m realizing this probably could’ve been combined with the last chapter... alas, it is not. No Lore in this chapter, but we get a look at what Deanna’s been thinking!


	7. “Healthy Change”?

** Ch 7 **

Lore was bored. And annoyed. After  he told them what he knew, they throw him in a holding cell for the 3 day trip to retrieve his brother. What a gratuitous group of people. Yes, he’d tried to kill them before, but he wasn’t trying right now! 

He gave another glare to the officers on duty, watching him from behind the force field.  
“And you can’t let me out for any reason, huh? You’d let a man die of boredom?” Lore of course knew that he couldn’t die of boredom, more so than most could, but he was that dang bored, he’d try anything. They just ignored his cries for help. Lore shuddered. He didn’t like having nothing to keep him occupied, being alone with only his thoughts. His thoughts weren’t the friendliest company. 

He knew that he’d have to face Data soon. That wouldn’t be easy. Data saw things in black and white. He just saw Lore as the crimes he’d committed. Lore couldn’t really blame him, the whole reason Data didn’t have emotions like Lore did was so he couldn’t turn out like him. Still, it’s difficult to have any positive interactions when you both have views so different from the other.

Data had never seen the other side to Noonien Soong, like Lore had. The side that turned his cheek the other way when the colonists began fearing Lore, the side that listened to Lore’s concerns and dismissed them, telling him “it won’t stay that way, they’ll get over it”, the side that did  _nothing to help Lore when he was in pain_ ,  until the pain found an ally in the Crystalline Entity and now posed a threat to Soong. Even then, all Soong did was abandon him. Saw him as a lost cause.  
  
_Sure, last time I saw him he said he’d always planned to get back to me, but the man didn’t even know I’d been reactivated! He wasn’t looking for me!_ And it wasn’t fair, because despite all that, Lore missed his father. He remembered the days of learning with him. Calibrating his motor skills, learning to speak properly, discovering his emotions, how to access his databanks.... They were happy in those days. He’d eat dinner with his mother and father, and they’d be beaming with joy as he told them what he thought of the meal with a smile. Lore had to wonder who his father really was. How much of his joy had been directed at Lore, rather than himself for his creation? He’d never know now. Soong was dead.  
_ And it’s my fault... he deserved it, didn’t he? But it’s all on me, now I can never know the truth... _

“Lore?” A familiar voice called out to him.  
_ That damn empath... what does she want now? _

“Come to let me out of my cage?” He sneakily replied. 

“Possibly, if you’ll listen.” She agreed.

“On what terms?”

“Well, we can’t just let you go free around the ship. Or out of the holding cell very often. If you agree to some counselling sessions with me, we would need to go to my office. Of course, there would be security officers outside.”

“Hmph. Therapy? You do understand it’s my programming that’s at fault?”

“Yes, but how much of it is programming, and how much of it is due to the circumstances of your life?” 

Lore didn’t know how to respond to that. He’d always been told it was all in his programming, always  _ known  _ it was all because of his programming, and she was saying it might not be? 

He chuckled bitterly. “How fucked up I must be, then.”

“The first step towards healthy change is admitting you need it,” Troi noted. 

Lore scoffed. “Oh, do I need ‘healthy change’? All your talk of goodness isn’t going to fix me.”

“Please, you haven’t even seen how a session would go. At least give it a try, and then you can say what what you think.” Deanna pleaded. 

Lore thought for a while, keeping Troi in suspense of his answer.  
_ Well, she’s spewing bs... but then again... if there’s a chance, maybe for me to be fixed... what are the odds though? But.. getting out of here would be nice at least. _

Finally, he spoke. “Fine. I’ll go. Only for the change of scenery.”

Deanna smiled. “Great! We can get going right now, if you’d like.” 

“The sooner I’m out of here, the better.” He agreed. 

“Alright,” she glanced over to the two security officers guarding Lore, and pressed her badge. “Troi to Picard.” 

“Yes, Counsellor?” 

“I have Lore’s agreement to a counselling session. Permission to release the force field and have him escorted to my office?”

“..Permission granted.”

“Very well,” she nodded to the officers, “let’s go.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, another chapter! Not much else for me to say...  
> I guess I will say that the chapters do get longer later on! Will that be a lasting trend? Hopefully...


	8. Oh Joy, Therapy!

** Ch 8 **

Well, here they were. Lore awkwardly sat on the couch in Deanna’s office, in silence. She’d have to speak up first. Maybe his silence would unnerve her and it would be even longer until he’d have to go back to that pathetic jail cell. 

“So, Lore, what would you like to discuss today?”

_ Damn, that didn’t last long. _

“Nothing.” He sulked.

“Well, I’ll start us off in that case. You let me know any time you’re too uncomfortable to talk about something, and we’ll change the subject. Sound good?”

“Yeah, whatever.” Lore felt so  _weird_ being here. Like he was about to be analyzed, Troi learning how all the pieces came together to make the puzzle that was Lore.

“I’d like to start by asking you a question. If it’s too personal you don’t have to answer. When I confronted you and you played dumb, I sensed rapid emotions from you. There... and then gone. It was quite similar to when I sense feelings off a person when they’re immersed in a memory. Was that what you were doing?”

Right. When he’d stupidly pulled up an early memory, hoping to emulate genuine confusion and fool her. 

“Yes,” he hesitantly answered. “I replayed a memory from my databanks.”

Troi nodded, asking calmly, “Might I ask what memory you picked?” 

“I didn’t ‘pick’ one,” He muttered. “just randomly accessed one of my earlier memories. I was learning lots back then, therefore lots of confusion.” 

“Alright,” Deanna tried to keep going. “I did sense more than just confusion though. Would you be willing to tell me more about the memory you accessed?”

“Why? Why do you even care?”

“Because,” she started. “everyone deserves a second chance. Especially when you never really had one to begin with.”

He looked at her incredulously. 

“I see potential in you, Lore. You can overcome this, if you try.”

_ Overcome what, exactly? My programming? But she did say it might not just be my programming that’s messed me up...  _

“What am I overcoming? Childhood trauma?” He laughed sarcastically.

“Yes, that very well may be it.”

“Really? From what childhood?”

She sighed. “Lore, you can’t be so argumentative about every point I make. Yes, you  _technically_ had no childhood, but you had a day you were first activated. Days when you were learning, as you said.”

“Fine, fine, okay! My ‘childhood’, if you want to call it that.”

“Since that memory you accessed was from that period of time, would you mind telling me what it was a memory of?”

_She keeps nagging about this. What am I going to gain from sharing that? Guess I’m not losing anything, she can already sense my emotions. And it’ll get her off my ass..._

“It wasn’t the best memory to pull, but I was in a pinch and just randomly accessed one.”

“And, what was it of?”

“One of the times- the last time, I suppose, that I wondered about the colonists on Omicron Theta. About why they were so afraid of me. I never  _could_ grasp that back then.”

“And what did you conclude? Why were they afraid?” 

“I didn’t get the chance to figure that out until my dear brother reactivated me! Everyone’s afraid of what’s better than them... what can replace them.” 

Troi seemed uncomfortable with that statement. “...we’ll get back to that later. What else happened in the memory?”

“They hated me, so I decided to hate them back. Made me feel a hell of a lot better.”

“The hatred?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know what it was called back then, but it was hate. Burning up, giving me power over those who despised me....”

“Okay, I think that’s enough!” She could sense the pleasure Lore felt when talking about hatred. It was terrifying.

“What, I thought you were supposed to be nice! I’m too scary for you now?”

Deanna took some deep breaths, calming herself down. “No, I’ve already seen the side of you that is ‘scary’, as you call it. It’s just... unpleasant to get a reminder of it. I apologize. I’m glad you were able to share that with me.”

“Sure,” Lore didn’t believe her. “So, what are you gonna do now?” 

“Finish up the session. I’d like to... give a summary based on what I’ve heard so far, and then possibly we can plan another session.”

Lore said nothing.

_ Time for the scientist’s analysis of the test subject... _

“It sounds to me as if... and keep in mind, this is just my first analysis, and I could be incorrect, but it sounds like the colonists’ fear of you was a turning point, in which you turned to hatred. I can’t say how much of this might just be ‘faulty programming’, but you feel pleasure from your hate. This could be since you felt that power over the colonists through your hatred, it was something you could do about the situation, and now that sense of power and pleasure from hate is almost a comfort to you.” 

Lore still didn’t say anything. What was he supposed to answer with?

_ “Yes, you sound like you know me already. Let’s go be friends and have a grand little party!” _

No. But he felt exposed. Hate was one constant in his life, it was true, it was comforting to have. Hate for the colonists, hate for his father, his dear brother, Starfleet, humanity! He didn’t feel any hate now though, and that’s what worried him.  
Why? Humanity was still just as horrible, but he only felt annoyance and disgust towards them. His emotions seemed... subdued. Maybe it was just the contrast, lacking the emotion chip, but the last time Lore remembered feeling this calm was... before he had met the colonists. 

Feeling deeply unsettled from this revelation, Lore got up and left the room wordlessly, only opening his mouth to tell the security guards a hopefully sarcastic sounding “Take me away!” As he was escorted back to his  _cozy little_ _cell_ , Lore wished he could fall asleep like humans do. Then at least he’d forget this all for a few hours. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was planning on not posting until I finished writing another chapter, but I’ve been having some writer’s block, so I’m posting anyways. 
> 
> This is the start of a plot point that I had no clue at the time what direction I was going to take it in, and so once I figured it out... well, I’m not sure what I think about it. Hopefully it isn’t too meh?


	9. Alternative Option

** Ch 9  **

It had been a few days, and Lore still felt very unsettled from his “therapy” session. He didn’t know how he didn’t pick up on it sooner.

_Guess_ _I was too preoccupied with finding out what the hell my mystery kidnapper’s intentions were..._ Lore realized.

But now it was clear as it could be to Lore - and he definitely didn’t like it - he wasn’t capable of as intense emotions anymore. Damn his cruddy parts, his crappy programming! Typically, he’d be throwing a tantrum over all this, but he didn’t feel mad enough.  _What the hell?_ Lore was more befuddled than anything, since that’s all his programming was permitting him apparently.

The doors whooshed open, and Captain Picard entered the brig along with Lt. Worf, both looking very reluctant to be there. They walked over to Lore’s holding cell.

Picard cleared his throat. “We have arrived at the Starbase where Mr. Data supposedly is.”

Lore scoffed at that. “He is there alright, otherwise I don’t see how Starfleet’s  _brightest minds_ haven’t noticed the missing android yet.”

“We may need your help with convincing Starfleet of the fact that you and Data were switched. If that is true.”

“Okayy, so what am I supposed to do? Let them confirm it and then deactivate me? I’m not turning myself in!”

Worf spoke up, “Perhaps you did not think this through.” he said with venom.

Picard was lost in thought. “Well... for the time being, we do still need you. There is clearly something going on at Starfleet involving you and Mr. Data. We’ll need information from the both of you.”

Lore nodded. “That much is true, but what about once this is solved? I’ll be back in pieces.” He laughed.

Picard spoke, conflict heavy in his voice. “I do suppose... it is quite a harsh punishment to be deactivated.”

“ _ Temporary death, _ ” Lore agreed, crossing his arms.

“I may need to discuss this with Starfleet. Fair treatment of android criminals.” The Captain stared at Lore, trying to figure out what it was he wanted from this. Surely he wanted to go back to his freedom and murderous ways? 

Lore stared right back at Picard, doing his best to give away nothing. He didn’t want to be locked up, of course, but he was surprised Picard was even suggesting  any alternative to deactivation.  
“Well, it’s something, alright. That’s a toughie for Starfleet, huh? Can’t exactly give a life sentence to someone whose life won’t run out. Or I guess they could, but... wouldn’t you think after a thousand years or so I’d’ve learned my lesson?”

Worf grunted. “You have done nothing to suggest you will change your ways. I do not see why we should assist you.”

Picard nodded in agreement. “Yes, it is hard to look past all that. But I’m not thinking of him specifically; Mr. Data was once on trial as Starfleet’s supposed property. There is a lot that has yet to be done for android rights even after I won that trial.”

“We’ll see,” Lore spoke up, having made his decision. “I’ll help ya get to Data but you’d  better  return the favour.” 

“Understood.” And with that, the force field was lowered, Lore was put into handcuffs, (though how long could those  really  hold him for?) and they were on their way to the Starbase.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter! We’re getting close to seeing Data though, so that’s exciting! 
> 
> Picard kind of helping Lore out...? I wrote this chapter quite a while back and I can see his behaviour being kind of questionable here. I don’t really remember what I was thinking, but I suppose in addition to the whole “android rights” thing, Picard might not feel comfortable making any decisions about Lore without Data present? I’m not sure... but hopefully it makes enough sense!


	10. The Starbase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I felt kinda bad leaving you all with just that boring little chapter, so here’s a more interesting one!

** Ch 10 **

Lore’s arrival at the Starbase had visibly shaken up the staff. Wide eyed stares, shock and surprise were clear on their faces in the bright white light. Lore wondered if Picard even let them know that such a terrifying criminal as himself was going to be there. Or maybe they thought he  _ was _ Data; he was still in the Starfleet uniform. Lore glared back at every one of the onlookers as Picard, and Worf escorting Lore, headed to the turbolift. 

“Computer, floor 1. Security access code delta 24 gamma 36.9.” Picard commanded. 

_ Pretty serious place...  _

The doors opened ominously to a poorly lit area.  _ And this is where I was?  _ Lore shuddered slightly. He would never admit to it, but he had an... aversion to the dark. It was easy to let your mind get caught up in it, imagining things that weren’t really there. There appeared to be no personnel down here either... kinda creepy. Worf jostled Lore into moving off the turbolift, and he was led to the end of a corridor, where a heavy-duty door stood. Picard brought out a keycard and swiped it at the door handle. It beeped once, and the door slid open swiftly. 

A woman dressed in a high-rank Starfleet uniform greeted them. “Captain Picard,”

“Admiral Edwards,” he acknowledged.

“I hope you understand how serious a matter this is; I have top security down here, and I trust them all completely. If one of them is truly not loyal to Starfleet...” she gave a stern look.

“Yes, I understand, Admiral.”

“Very well. This way to the holding chamber.”

They followed the Admiral down quite a few hallways, having to stop for her to swipe keycards and give passcodes along the way. The place certainly seemed well protected. 

Finally, the last door opened, and Lore stood agape. The room was a small, enclosed area, lit in bluish tones. Most disturbingly, he could see his brother’s parts all held in separate transparent compartments. 

“That’s sick!” He uttered, unable to help himself from speaking out in his disgust. He tried to look anywhere but the centrepiece of android parts, a difficult task in such a small room.

Admiral Edwards ignored him, instead motioning to the security officer standing to the right side of the chamber. 

“This is my Security Chief, Commander Owens. Next in line to myself, he’s in charge of ensuring the holding chamber  _ is _ secure.” 

“Admiral, Captain,” Owens nodded in greeting.

“Captain Picard, I must tell you that I take my job very seriously. There’s many different situations I’ve been in as a security chief, but none as important as guarding a criminal such as Lore.” 

“I know it’s hard to believe, but here Lore is.” Picard gestured at the android. 

“Understood, sir. I’ll have our engineer, Lt. Commander Rena, take a look at him right away. She’s the expert on the android.”

Owens called Rena over commbadge and within a few minutes, she entered from a door at the back that Lore hadn’t noticed until then.

Rena wasted no time. “Alright, let’s begin,” she said with a determined look in her brown eyes.

She walked over to Lore. “With your consent of course. I’ll need to examine your positronic net, compare it to your brother’s. I’ll be looking for anything to confirm you are Lore. If it all checks out, then we can get started on reactivating Data. Sound good?”

“Sure. There’s not much difference between us though...” Lore answered. 

* * *

Lore’s positronic brain let him know that it was an agonizingly long 1 hour 53 minutes until Rena found what she was looking for. 

“I see, here your neural pathways diverge. Yours goes left, while his goes right. You  _ are  _ Lore!” she beamed. 

Lore just gave a look of “what the fuck?!” in response.

“Well, I’ve had to spend a lot of time with your brain.” she chuckled nervously. “Gosh, that sounds funny. But, basically, your pathway there is different because... well, I’m not too sure! I’d have to spend  a _lot_ more time to figure that out. Like, years! Buuuut... I definitely remember that you had a pathway here going left! Since the android in our holding chamber’s goes right, that’s a different android!” 

Admiral Edwards smiled, getting up from her seat on the floor. “Well done, Lieutenant Commander,” she said as she put a hand warmly on Rena’s shoulder. ”You may now start your work on reconstructing and reactivating Data as soon as you’re ready.”

“Of course,” Rena grinned proudly. “Maybe it  _ is _ time for a snack break.”

Rena started to head out of the room, to the nearest replicator.

Lore wondered why they had needed an engineer looking at him while he’d been in holding. He decided to ask just that. 

“What is your job, exactly?”

Rena paused, just barely out of the room. “Who, me?”

“Yeah, you.” he sneered.

“Well... I- you see, I was curious. I asked for a transfer from the Enterprise to this Starbase when I heard you were going to be here. Just, there’s a lot to it, you know?”

Lore glared blankly at her.

“Okay, I’ll get to the point. My job was to see if there was any way your positronic brain could be repaired. To be more emotionally stable. If I could do that, you wouldn’t have had to be in holding anymore,” she laughed awkwardly. “But look how that turned out. You’re out of here already. At least for now, I guess.” 

As Rena went on her way, a faint “Ice cream, butterscotch ripple” heard down the hall, all Lore’s thoughts were on was that there was a chance for him, and... some people actually wanted to  _ fix him?  _

Why? What would they gain from it?  _ Probably just hoping to make me a compliant little slave, like my dear brother...  _ but somehow, Lore didn’t fully believe that. Not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized after I wrote this chapter that Geordi could’ve worked just as well in Rena’s place, confirming the differences between Data and Lore... but I’m glad I didn’t think of that at the time! She came to me full of personality, and I adore her.


	11. My Dear Brother is Back

** Ch 11 **

Data woke up from his dream program. No, that was not it; it was a similar sensation, but... it seemed as if he had been reactivated. Curious. He was laying on a table, wearing clothing that felt unfamiliar to him. He blinked his eyes open a few times, seeing a familiar engineer staring at him. 

“Lieutenant Commander Rena,” He recognized her from when he had delivered his brother’s parts to Starfleet holding. 

“You... remember me?” she spoke in shock, then face palmed. “Oh, of course you do. And you’re awake! That’s wonderful! Do you remember anything about your deactivation?”

Data tilted his head in confusion. “No, I do not. That is most unusual. My internal chronometer indicates I was deactivated for one week, three days. The last moment I remember is being in my quarters.” He quirked his head to the side. “Is that helpful?”

Rena frowned. “Not really. But thank you anyways.”

Data sat up on the table, taking in his surroundings. He recognized it as the holding chamber in which Lore’s deactivated body was held. He could see Admiral Edwards, a security chief, Captain Picard, Lieutenant Worf, and... “Lore.” Data breathed. “How are you here?”

Lore scoffed at him from his leaned-back pose on the floor. Data noted that he was in a gold Starfleet uniform, likely his own, and was handcuffed. “That’s what we’re all trying to find out,  _ dear brother_.” 

Data could not see a lot of ways that this could have occurred. Lore could not have done it himself, so someone must have reactivated his brother. And Data found himself in the very chamber in which Lore was meant to be in. Looking at the clothing he was wearing, Data remembered it as Lore’s attire last time they had had an encounter. The clothes Lore should still be wearing right now. 

“Our places have been switched.” Data concluded.

Lore half-clapped (careful not to break his handcuffs, oddly), in what Data supposed was not intended to be a supportive manner. “Very good, you figured it out.” 

“And the issue is, we do not know how or by whom this was accomplished?”

“Correct,” Lore drawled. “or  _why_ ,  even.”

“This is very curious.” Data stated.

“Indeed,” Picard spoke up. “We’re glad to have you back, Mr. Data.”

Data nodded politely. “Thank you, sir.”

After a few more minutes of confirming Data was well, they were able to leave. Admiral Edwards ensured Picard that there would be an investigation of all personnel with access to the chamber, and that they would keep him updated. The Enterprise would look into their staff records as well.

Yet again, Starfleet’s visions of perfection were cracking...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short little chapter for this Friday! Finally, Data is on the scene!


	12. Don’t Wanna Be Emotionless

** Ch 12  **

Back to the ship, and back to the brig for Lore...

_At least I’m not deactivated_ ,  he reminded himself,  _ and I’m finally out of that damn uniform._

He’d spent all night with a multitude of thoughts racing through his mind. What was going to happen now? Data didn’t remember anything, but hopefully they’d be able to catch whoever did this and get their answers. But, what then? Lore didn’t think that far ahead, caught up in his thoughts of revenge against this unknown person. And now he felt even less motivated to even  want  to take revenge. His emotions seemed duller by the day. That caused a twinge of fear in Lore.

_ What if I eventually... lost my emotions completely?_

But what could he do about it? He’d ran so many self-diagnostics, to no avail (Unsurprising, considering how tricky his emotional issues had been for his father to find). But what was he supposed to do then? He could ask for Data’s assistance, but that was a real risk-taker right there. He didn’t want the whole crew of the Enterprise to know he was in desperate need of help, and Lore doubted Data would understand his desire to keep this secret. Lore let out a frustrated sigh.  _  
_

_But it looks like I need Data’s help, oh joy.... that’ll be a fun conversation. _

And wouldn’t you know, a few minutes later, who strode right into the brig? Lore’s dear brother, Data.

“Hello, Lore.” 

“Hi,” Lore answered in an even tone. “What brings you here?”

“Captain Picard informed me of an intriguing development. Once we have ‘sorted out’ current events, he will be discussing android rights further with Starfleet.”

Lore sighed. “I’m aware.”

“Brother, I would like to....” Data hesitated. “apologize. My actions, deactivating you, were unfair. I did not see another course of action, but to decide to permanently shut you off and dismantle you... that goes against one’s rights.”

Lore blinked a few times in surprise. “Well, thanks. Not that it changes what happened, but thanks,  I _guess_. ” Lore felt disconcerted, he knew he should, at least, feel more  annoyed at Data.

Data picked up on this too. “Lore, you are not angry with me.” 

“No, I-I’m really not, Data.”

“Why?” 

“I don’t know.” Oh god, was he shaking? Lore was scared.  
  
_ What if this leads to cascade failure? _ Then _ I’d really be... dead. _

“I don’t know, Data, I don’t know what’s happening to me, ok?” He cried out.

“Lore? What is wrong?”

Lore froze. “Damn it,” he muttered. “I- fuck, Data you’d better promise to not tell anybody about this...” 

“I cannot agree to that with no knowledge of what I would be withholding from my colleagues and friends. I can only tell you that I will make an appropriate decision once I am informed.”

_ Well, at least I have a chance.  _

Lore spoke extremely softly, knowing the security officers on duty wouldn’t be able to hear him, but that Data’s auditory sensors would pick it up. “It’s my emotions... I dunno how, but they’re fading. Self-diagnosis turns up nothing.”

Data took a second to process this, then spoke in an equally quiet voice. “Lore, this could have been caused by whoever wanted to switch our places. Perhaps by gradually removing your emotions, they had hoped for you to become a more believable me?” 

“Gah! That’s- yes, maybe, but not the point right now!  _ I would like to be fixed,  _ Data! To not completely lose my emotions?”

“I understand. However, I cannot help you without permission to let you out of the brig, and I likely will not be given permission unless I tell the Captain what is happening.” Data paused.

“I sense a ‘but’,” Lore inputted.

Data’s face was that of utter confusion for a few moments, before he recomposed. “Ah. Yes. I do not believe you will find this information... savoury.”

“Just spit it out,” Lore grumbled.

“Since your programming issues regarding emotions have been the cause of your past behaviour, I do not think the Captain would agree to aid you in returning your emotions to full intensity. Not without your programming ‘fixed’.” 

“Great. Great!”

Data quirked his head to the side. “In what way is tha-“

“Sarcasm, brother. I haven’t lost all my emotions yet.”

“Ah. I will bring this situation to the Captain’s attention. Perhaps, if Lt. Commander Rena is cleared from suspicion, she might be able to assist.”

“The one who was working to ‘fix’ me. Whose idea was that?”

“I believe it was Rena herself. She has a very promising career in cybernetics, and suggested that she might be able to help find a solution.”

“Hmm. So what for now?”

“I will inform the Captain, and report back to you later.”

“Fine.”

“Goodbye, brother.”

“Bye.” 

As Lore watched his brother leave the room, he thought of one more thing... “Data!”

Data stopped, turning around. “Yes?”

“Couldja see about getting me into a nicer room? I’m sick of this cramped space.”

“I will see what I can do.”

“Thanks...”

Data faded away from Lore’s view, leaving Lore to wonder what awaited him next...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t really have anything to say about this chapter... hopefully it’s an interesting enough one!


	13. Emotional (or not emotional, according to Data) Conflict

** Ch 13 **

An hour later, Data exited the Captain’s ready room and went to the turbolift, intending to tell his brother what had happened. The Captain had been very shocked, and, as Data expected, did not wish to help Lore in this matter. The risk was far too great. After some debating, the two did manage to come to an agreement on some things. 

Data was... not glad, he could not be... but it did seem to him that he had mixed opinions on Lore. Part of him desired to help his brother; if there was a possibility that Lore’s positronic brain could be stabilized, then he would no longer have to be alone in this universe. Yet, another part of his mind replayed memories of his past interactions with Lore, reminding him of how manipulative he tended to be, and how much destruction Lore had caused. Was this all another trick? It was very difficult to tell. Lore’s reactions seemed genuine, but Data was hardly an expert on emotion, so he could not be sure.

_ For now, it would be best to assume Lore is telling the truth, but to hold caution,  _ he decided.

Data got off the turbolift, and headed to the brig at a brisk pace. 

* * *

“Brother,” he greeted, walking up to the holding cell. 

“Hello,” Lore glanced up at him. “Got anything good to tell me?” 

It was strange for Data to see his brother so calm. It was certainly not Lore’s typical behaviour. 

“Somewhat. The Captain and I were able to come to a compromise.”

“And what would that be?” Lore boredly asked.

“If you agree to weekly therapy sessions with Counsellor Troi, and remain compliant with us, you will be given your own quarters. They will be guarded outside at all times, but... it is something.”

“Thanks. Therapy’s shit, but... I guess I can put up with it. What about the whole ‘slowly losing my emotions’ deal, though?”

“The Captain agreed that Lt. Commander Rena will be contacted as soon as she is available, and if she desires to continue with her work from the Starbase, then myself, Rena, and Geordi will attempt to find and fix the issues within your programming. In the meantime, I am attempting to figure out a way to slow, or completely stop the process from worsening. I have the Captain’s permission to bring you to engineering and begin a diagnosis.”

“Oh. Right now?”

“Yes, if you would like.”

“Time’s a wasting, dear brother; let’s get cracking.”

“Very well,” Data turned over to one of the security officers. “Lieutenant Marshall, if you would lower the forcefield?”

“Aye sir.” Marshall nodded, inputting the necessary security codes to release it.

Lore slowly stepped out of the cell, and followed his brother to engineering.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short one... I’ll try and post the next two chapters soon though!


	14. Awkward Talk

** Ch 14 **

Well... they were at engineering now, a forcefield set in place. Lore shifted around, standing awkwardly. 

Data looked over at him from his place at the computer. “Lore, you may sit, if you would like. It will be easier to connect you to the computer that way.”

Lore shrugged. “Alright.” He walked over to the chair beside Data, and sat. Data noted that Lore’s leg was bouncing up and down. He seemed... antsy. “Are you uncomfortable with this?” Data asked.

Lore shook his head adamantly. “It doesn’t  _ scare  _ me. Just... ugh.” Lore put his head down on the counter space.

“Lore?”

“Just do it,” he grumbled, opening the hatch on his head. 

Data got to work immediately.

* * *

After 12 minutes of silence, Lore spoke up. “Ya, know, I’ve just... just gotta know. Why’d you deactivate me? You say you’re sorry, but why’dyou even do it? That wasn’t the only option, surely.”

Data glanced up, seeming surprised at the question. “No, but it was the only viable option. You were planning on escaping and continuing your attempts of a reign of artificial life, were you not?” 

“I mean... I didn’t have a plan at the time, other than getting the hell out of there.”

Data pressed a few buttons on screen, then replied, “Even so, I am certain you would not have gone on to do anything beneficial had you not remained deactivated. It is... unfortunate that that had to be the case, but nonetheless, it was the safest choice.”

Lore snorted. “Not beneficial for humanity, no, but for  _us_?  Data, you are so, so naïve.”

“In what manner?”

“The humans, they’ve brainwashed you. You’re so used to how they treat you that you can’t even see how they’re a bunch of damn assholes!” Lore slammed a fist on the counter.

Data gave his brother a stern look. “Many of my friends and colleagues are human. I would appreciate you not speaking about them in such a manner.” 

Lore scoffed. “I had to pretend to  _ be _ you for a week. Sure, some of your closer coworkers  say  they care, but about what? You- Data, the person? Or a precious resource that is very valuable to have around?” 

“That is not the case. My friends respect me as a living being. I have seen proof of this on many occasions,” Data paused. “I understand that you must have had unpleasant interactions with the colonists on Omicron Theta. However, you must know, just as you and I do not share identical views, neither does all of humanity.”

“Yeah?” Lore shrugged. “Well, you’ll see eventually, dear brother.”

“Lore,” Data spoke while checking the information popping up on the computer screen, “now I must ask a question of you.”

“Shoot,” Lore acknowledged.

Data tilted his head, confused by the phrase, but continued nonetheless. “As I deactivated you, you managed to utter one last sentence.”

_ Oh no,  _ Lore thought, icy dread filling within him.

“You said that you loved me.”

“I did say that,” Lore admitted. 

“Were you speaking the truth?”, Data asked, looking so much like a curious child that Lore nearly broke.

“Yes”, was all that Lore said.

“Hm”, was all that Data responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, but I am very proud of how I ended this chapter haha! Oh, the drama...


	15. No Way! Just... What?

** Ch 15 **

One hour later, Data came to a surprising conclusion.

Data told his brother of this conclusion while finally disconnecting him from the computer. “I have not found any issues, Lore,”

“Nothing, huh? Marvellous.” Lore crossed his arms.

“You misunderstand, brother. It appears your programming issues have been fixed,” Data explained.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You should know that I cannot ‘kid’. I have repeatedly checked your neural net, and the areas of collapse seem to have... restabilized somehow. It seems that your sensation of gradually ‘losing your emotions’ was caused by your systems adjusting to the change.” Data seemed almost at a loss for words, if such a thing were possible for the android.

Lore felt like his processing centres were lagging (ironic, considering he supposedly was working better than before). He... was fixed? That had always seemed a distant dream, unachievable. If his own father, the expert on positronic brains, had looked at all of his issues and decided it’d be easier to just deactivate him and make a new android, then what chance did Lore have of  _ anyone _ correcting his problems? 

Yet, someone had done it? How?  _ Why?  _ .....and he had been worried that his emotions were going away! Is this what it was like to experience emotions normally? It had been a long time. It felt... quiet, empty. His moods hadn’t been shifting from one moment to the next. Lore missed that consistent feeling of hate he had grown accustomed to. He still  felt  hatred towards humanity, but it was a ghost of the intense hate and anger he’d once been drunk on. Weird. He always thought he’d be happy when (no,  if)  this day came. Instead, Lore only felt lost, a shadow of who he used to be.

“Lore?” Data stared, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?” he replied hazily.

“This must be a shock to you,” Data spoke calmly, as if he hadn’t told Lore life-changing information, but rather that the replicators weren’t working.

“Uh huh,” Lore muttered in agreement.

“Would you like to... talk about it?” Data asked.

Lore shook his head. “No,” he whispered. “No.”

Data did not know how to respond. This was an emotional moment for Lore, and Data had no emotions to even  _ begin _ to relate to his brother with. Data settled for an awkward shoulder pat, and advised Lore that Counsellor Troi might be of some help.

Afterwards, as he left to report to the Captain, Data could not shake the sense that he had done something wrong. That he had been an inadequate brother. Hmm. Perhaps  _ he  _ would need to see the counsellor as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter today? Yeah! 
> 
> I don’t know if I’ve really explained this before, but when I started writing this fic, it was just for myself. When I actually decided to start posting it on here, I had quite a few chapters already written. So where I’m at with writing the fic is ahead of where I’m posting.  
> And I’m almost done writing it!
> 
> So I’ll probably be posting more frequently for the next while! :D
> 
> It’s sad to be almost done writing this, but I am going to be writing a sequel afterwards, so at least it’s not completely goodbye!


	16. Emotions or Not, We Suck at Being Family

** Ch 16 **

Data decided today was the day he would ask Counsellor Troi her thoughts on his... familial issues. As soon as his shift on the bridge ended, he headed to her office. Data noticed that there were security officers outside the doors, but they did not acknowledge him. He thought it better not to question them.

After the door chime rang, he heard the counsellor’s voice, calling “Come in”. 

He stepped inside, only to see Troi, and his brother, seemingly engaged in a counselling session. 

Data took a step back towards the door. “Perhaps now is not a good time.”

Deanna smiled. “Well, is it alright with you, Lore? I’m sure he’ll be quick.”

Lore shrugged, shifting in his seat. “Fine, go ahead.”

“No, I will come back another time,” Data spoke while taking another step back.

“What, scared of your big brother?” Lore sneered.

“I cannot be ‘scared’. The topic I wished to discuss with Counsellor Troi involved you, so I thought it would be best to discuss it without you present,” he explained.

Troi nodded contently, an idea forming in her mind. “If both of you agree, I could make this into a family therapy session. That might help more than you’d think.”

Data quirked his head. “Yes, I believe that would be an appropriate solution.”

Lore didn’t speak, just frowned.

“What do you think, Lore?” Troi gently asked.

“I’d rather not,” he answered. 

Data looked mildly confused. “Why, Lore? Are you afraid of me?”, he questioned, mirroring Lore’s words.

“No,” he scowled. “I’m only here because I have to be, and now you’re all trying to force  _ what _ \- some family bonding?” Lore pointed angrily at Data. “ _ He _ doesn’t even have the capacity to understand me!”

Troi spoke before Data could formulate an sufficient answer. “That’s not the point. Even if Data doesn’t have emotions like you do, he certainly can listen and understand. I’m sure the two of you have a lot to work out.”

“Fine,” Lore huffed. “Though I don’t think that you can do much to repair this twisted family.”

Deanna looked a little concerned at that comment, but didn’t question him.

“Well, let’s begin!” she started. “Data, why don’t you take a seat next to your brother?”

Data moved to sit beside Lore, his perfect posture contrasting Lore’s laid-back slouch.

“I was hoping to ask you Counsellor, about myself as a brother. It is not something I am used to, and I do not believe I am acting as a brother should with Lore.”

Deanna smiled reassuringly. “That’s only natural. You and Lore haven’t had the chance to interact in a healthy way yet. That won’t happen until you resolve your issues with each other.”

Data frowned. “And how can we ‘resolve our issues’? I do not know if it is possible.”

Now was Lore’s turn to frown. “Wow, Mr. Goody Goody shows his true colours.”

Deanna stepped in to mediate. “Let’s hear why Data thinks that first. Then you can speak, Lore.”

Data nodded. “It was once explained to me that ’brothers forgive’. This, I would assume, is necessary if we are to resolve our issues. However, I do not think I  _ can  _ forgive him.” 

“Of course not,” Lore snorted.

“Data, why don’t you explain your feel- your  _ thoughts _ on that to us.” Deanna spoke.

“From the first time he spoke to me, he has told many lies. Since then, he has threatened the lives of everyone on board the Enterprise, stolen the emotion chip intended for myself, killed our father, manipulated a Borg collective, and manipulated me into harming my friends.”  
  
Data stated these as the facts he saw them to be. How could he possibly attempt the concept of forgiveness?

Data paused. “Counsellor, perhaps I do not fully grasp the idea of forgiveness; it does seem to be a typically emotional concept.”

“Forgiveness doesn’t have to be tied to emotions, Data. Am I right in saying you are struggling with the effects of Lore’s actions, and the idea of forgiving him for them?”

Data tilted his head, thinking. “That does seem to be an accurate description, yes.”

“You’re talking as if anything I tried to do wasn’t stopped in the end!” Lore complained.

“Just because you didn’t succeed doesn’t mean you didn’t impact anyone,” Deanna explained, giving a meaningful gaze at Data.

“Data, if you’re alright with it, would you mind telling Lore why you have yet to attempt fixing your emotion chip? I think it would help him to see where you’re coming from.”

Lore was visibly surprised at this, eyebrows raising, but he let Data speak.

“Geordi would not allow me to destroy it. That is why. I will not be using it, therefore no need to attempt reparation.”

“What the hell? When Often Wrong brought it out, you looked at that chip like it was the most precious thing in the galaxy! And now that you have it, you  _don’t want it?_ ”  Lore exclaimed.

“Think about it, Lore. What experiences has Data had with the emotion chip?” Deanna gently prodded.

“Well, I stole it from him.”

“And then?” she questioned.

“Then I messed around with it, until I figured out a way to feed him emotions from a distance. I needed to lure him so I could have him join me in a new age of artificial life!”

Deanna sighed. “You manipulated him, Lore. He mistreated his friends under the influence of the emotion chip. Can you see why Data would not want to use it now?”

Oh. Lore could kinda see it now. He _had_ been only feeding Data negative emotions, the ones that were prevalent in himself. After all, how else would his brother have understood his hatred towards humanity (that with the emotion chip, spiralled into hatred for all biological life), or how clearly superior they were?   
  
Yes, controlling his brother wasn’t nice, but what about Lore was? He’d realized long ago that to get what you wanted, ‘nice’ never worked. Hell, he doubted Data would believe him, but he started off ‘nice’. Kind of like his dear brother... until the colonists finally met him, and most were afraid of him, just another one of Often Wrong’s failures... there was no way to get them to respect him, and he’d tried. At first.

“Yeah, I see it, but what else was I supposed to do?” 

“Perhaps not attempting to destroy all biological life would have been a better alternative,” said Data, almost sassily...? What?

“Data, you think you don’t have emotions, but yet time and time again you show evidence to the contrary,” Lore deflected.

Data looked shocked, nearly stumbling over his words. “That... is a discussion for another time.”

“Alright then...” Lore drawled.

“I think we can all agree that an issue you two need to work out is your different viewpoints on events,” Counsellor Troi interjected. “understanding the other person is key to forgiveness.”

“Yes,” Data agreed. “that does seem to be a significant part of it.” 

Lore opened his mouth to make a sarcastic comment when Counsellor Troi and Data’s commbadges chirped. “All senior staff to a meeting immediately. I’ve heard back from the Starbase, and there’s... quite a lot to discuss.” Picard sounded alarmed. 

_ This can’t be good...  _ Lore thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, a bit of a lengthier discussion today. Next chapter, we’ll finally discover some of what’s been going on! :0
> 
> Edit: I’ve now added chapter titles to every chapter! With this big thing coming up in the story soon, I have those chapters specially titled, and I feel like it would be kind of odd to only have those chapters titled. So now all of them are!


	17. Information

** Ch 17 **

Well, Picard really did mean it when he said there was a lot to discuss. Lore had to wait outside with the security officers, and  _oh boy_ , was it a long wait. What could they be talking about?

* * *

“An Admiral?”

“I can hardly believe it myself, Number One. Yet Commander Owens discovered Admiral Edwards had been the one to access the high security holding and take a modified shuttle out undetected.” 

“This is just getting crazier and crazier!” Geordi exclaimed.

“Agreed,” Beverly nodded. “And you said there’s  _ more _ ?”

“Yes, there is,” Picard confirmed. “She was not alone in her plan. Lieutenant Commander Rena helped to cover up the switch. Both of them fled in a rush, narrowly getting away. So their getaway is fairly easy to track. As the closest Starfleet vessel, we’ve been ordered to follow and hopefully intercept their shuttle.”

“Wow,” was all that Riker could reply.

“That doesn’t make much sense though,” Counsellor Troi commented. “The Admiral didn’t really have a reason to switch Data and Lore, did she?”

“That is the final thing to discuss,” Picard said. “Commander Owens noticed the coding Rena used to mess with the systems was fairly simple; she is rather skilled, and certainly capable of far more complex work, work that might’ve taken months to uncover... which seems to be what she did here on the Enterprise.”

“Just enough cracks for us to notice,” Geordi muttered. “They did the switch to get our attention!”

“It does seem that way, yes. While we are being ordered to follow after them, we are also required to keep our guard up. This could be a trick, but either way, Starfleet is at risk. We must put in our best efforts to prevent whatever their plan may be from going through.”

“Understood, sir.” Data nodded.

“Very well, dismissed.”

As everyone made their way out of the room, Data stopped to ask the Captain a question.

“Sir, I was wondering... how much of this should Lore be informed of?”

Picard was startled by the question. “Well, what do you believe he would do with this information?”

Data tilted his head, thinking. “I do not believe he would be pleased with our findings, but other than that, it is difficult to know how he would react, considering his recently stabilized state.”

“Indeed,” Picard said. “I trust your judgment on this, Mr. Data. I’ll leave it to your discretion.”

“Thank you, sir.”

* * *

Finally,  _ finally  _ Lore saw his dear brother exiting the conference room. “Took you long enough,” he uttered in annoyance.

“I apologize for the wait,” Data replied. “There was a large quantity of things we had to go over.”

“I figured,” Lore crossed his arms.

“Would you like to visit my quarters?” Data asked.

“Huh? Uh, sure. Why not.”

“Alright.” Data instructed the guards with the usual (to escort Lore) and they were on their way to Data’s quarters.

Once they arrived, Data looked at Lore with concern. “I was uncertain when the Captain asked me this... once we have the identities of those behind our ‘kidnappings’, what will you do?”

“Good question, brother,” Lore spoke without certainty. “I don’t even know anymore,” he shrugged helplessly. “I’ll know when I’m staring them in the eye, I think...” 

“I see,” Data responded. “I will inform you ofwhat we were discussing in the meeting.”

“You will? I thought you couldn’t trust me or some shit.”

“I do not trust you Lore; I will only inform you of what I believe you should know,”

“I sEe,” he mocked. “Well, go ahead then, tell your brother what knowledge he is worthy of,”

“We have found that it was Admiral Edwards and Lieutenant Commander Rena were the ones behind our switch,”

“What? Those  _bitches_! ” He seethed. “They played us all, huh?” 

“It would seem so,” Data agreed. “I thought it might help for you to know”

“ Help ? How the hell is this helping, Data?”

“So that you might get some resolution, or at the least, you will not be suddenly shocked by this discovery.”

“And why would I be ‘suddenly shocked’?”

“I just... I do not need to justify my decision to you. I have given you enough information already.” 

Lore scoffed. “Okay, gee thanks. I guess I’ll be going now,”

Data nodded stiffly. “Perhaps that would be best,”

Lore walked away to leave when Data stopped him. “Lore?”

Lore hesitated. “Yeah? What is it now?”

“I- do not know. Just... perhaps you should not leave yet. There is much we do not know about each other, for being family.”

“Damn, what’s gotten into you?”

“I am simply attempting to utilize Counsellor Troi’s advice,”

“Of course you are,” Lore muttered. “Well, what the hell. I’ve got nothing else to do.”

Data’s eyes widened at Lore’s reply. “You really are willing to talk?” 

Lore snorted. “Try not to be so surprised,” he said as he walked back to his brother’s side.

“I’m more stable now, remember? Doesn’t really feel like it, but... I am! So I say, what the hell, why don’t we have some stupid family conversation!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I think I’m gonna leave you all with this for the weekend! Next week there should be quite a few chapters coming your way, but after that I’m not sure. I’m just working on the epilogue pretty much, but I haven’t been motivated and I’m busy with some other stuff right now unfortunately :(


	18. Chapter of Understanding

** Ch 18  **

“Alright,” Data said, still seeming a bit shaken from Lore’s willingness to talk. “Please, take a seat then.” 

Lore lounged onto the sofa, leaning back comfortably. Data sat down beside him with perfect posture, as always. 

_Just another difference between us,_ Lore thought.

“Where do we even start?” He wondered out loud. 

“I do not know that either,” Data admitted. 

“Heh, we’re kinda shitty at this ‘brothers’ thing. But I’ve been a worse brother in the past I’m sure you’d say.”

“Yes, I would say that. But would you, Lore?” 

Lore squirmed internally. This was not going to be a fun conversation. How could he explain to Data that most of what he’d done was part of his vendetta against humanity? Humans being horrible was not an opinion Data shared in the least. Maybe he could convince him though... bring his brother into a new plan to reign over humanity. With their minds working together.... surely they would succeed! 

Data had the capability for emotions in some form without the chip, Lore had seen that already. Damn, was he going to have to bring out some sob stories to bring Data over to his side? It might tug on Data’s non-existent heartstrings enough... 

A part of Lore questioned what he was doing. Wasn’t he fixed? Yet he still was his same manipulative self. Was that good or bad? Lore supposed it was up to him. 

“Well, yeah I was a bad brother, I guess so. But I’ve been trying to get back at humanity, for the most part.”

“But brother-“

“Hey, just lemme talk! You’re supposed ta try and ‘understand me’ anyways, aren’t you?”

Data shut his mouth and let Lore continue.

“So, uh, where to start? I guess at  _the_ start. Of my life. It wasn’t bad at first. It was a good life, me and mom and dad. They were really excited that I was actually functioning... I sure as hell wasn’t the first android Often Wrong tried to make. I was pretty happy too, at first. The trouble began when I started asking about the colonists.” Lore was deep in thought now, caught up in his early memories. “Dad didn’t like the idea of me interacting with ‘em too much. I bet he was worried they’d tell him he messed up again and that I surely wouldn’t last.” Lore laughed. “Well, he sure did mess up again, huh? But yeah, I finally convinced him with mom’s help, and I went out and introduced myself to some of the colonists. Their reaction was shitty, of course. Fear, disgust, hatred, et cetera. You can’t tell me you didn’t receive a similar reaction with Starfleet and all.”

“There was much discussion over my decision to enroll in Starfleet Academy; while some did not like it, the final decision made did allow me to attend.” 

“Okay, but that’s just allowing a machine to learn in a setting that they could control, from their view,” Lore argued. 

“That is likely the case,” Data agreed. “However, I have found myself very much accepted as a person since my stationing on the Enterprise. The Captain himself fought for my rights as a person, and succeeded. While the it is not the view of everyone aboard the ship that I am a person as they are, there are people who respect me, who... care about me.” 

“Well damn, Data, I thought I was supposed to be telling the sappy story here!” 

“I am... sorry?” Data said, confused.

“Never mind,” Lore replied. “But really, how can be certain they actually care about you? I mean, you don’t have even have emotions, how would you be able to classify ‘care’?”

Data tilted his head. “Care, feel concern or interest; attach importance to something. My friends have certainly displayed concern for myself, and feel I am important to them. I have seen proof of this on many occasions. I do not understand how you can be so certain that humanity is all the same.”

How was he so certain...? He wasn’t 100% certain anymore, truth be told, but Lore didn’t want to tell the truth. As ridiculous as it sounded, people like Troi, and even Rena, seemed to want to help him for no real reason, other than kindness. Well, Troi at least. Who the heck knows with Rena anymore? But even Picard, who definitely didn’t like him, helped him a bit with his dumb “criminal android rights” spiel. 

Lore didn’t understand it, and he’d been trying to ignore this fact. That some organic beings were actually, apparently,  decent . The moment he accepted that, his whole worldview would shatter. It already had, really.

Thinking about his mom and dad, they loved him. He’d loved them. There was a lot of fucked up stuff in between all that, but there were also genuine moments of goodness with them back then. After he met the colonists, he thought his parents were the only exception to humanity. But as his hatred towards the colonists grew, he overheard quiet conversations about a new android, a  _replacement_ , and decided humans were all the same. But yet, he kinda missed his family sometimes. Mostly just his mother, beacuse Often Wrong had  _really_ wronged him and he would never be over that. 

But... when he looked at humanity, could he really judge them? Based on one colony of like-minded people? Back then, Omicron Theta was all he had known, it was the world to him. But there was so many more people out there, some stupid, some.... probably not, if he looked at the odds. It wasn’t fair, it really hurt to realize and admit you’ve been wrong, especially when it’s about something that’s been a core part of you for so long. 

What else could he do now? Teach the folks that hated on androids not to? Nope, Lore could not see himself as a lecturer of any kind. And that sounded pretty dumb anyways. Serve in Starfleet? No, they were too taken by rules that Lore wouldn’t want to follow. He just wanted to be free to be him, really. And he would end up deactivated again if he kept on going down the path of hatred... oh geeze, he really didn’t wanna do this though.   
  
He took in a deep, though not required breath, before finally saying “I’m not certain. Not anymore. Maybe... oh god, maybe...” Lore was finding it easier to stare at the abstract art on the wall, as if it could spill the words from his lips for him. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back.

“Lore? I believe I know what you are attempting to say,” 

Lore kept staring blankly at the painting.

“You truly have changed,” Data said in awe.

Lore just scoffed at him wordlessly.

They sat in silence for minutes, until Data randomly spoke up. “I believe my mental pathways are beginning to become accustomed to you,”

“Huh?” Lore took a second to process that. “Isn’t that-“

“Friendship? Yes. There is more to it than that for you I am sure, but I can still define friendship in my own terms, brother.”

“And- and what? You think of me as a friend? Why?”

“Beginning to,” Data reminded. “And I do not know why, we have not had very many positive interactions still,” he paused. “Perhaps that is part of being family,” Data pondered.

“Ya hate ‘em but still love ‘em,” Lore chuckled, a bit more genuinely. 

“Is that a possibility?” Data asked. “To hate someone, yet love them? It does not make much sense.”

“Well, that’s kinda an exaggeration. It’s like, you get annoyed by them, bothered by them, sometimes you  _think_ you hate ‘em, but then you end up having a late night chat and everything’s alright again.”

“Hm... you sound as if you know a lot about family, Lore.”

“I dunno about that,” he shrugged. “But yeah... I guess I have some idea of what it’s like.”

“You will have to teach me,”

“Psh, that’s not how it’s supposed to work, Data. You just kinda  _be_ family.”

“Interesting,” Data noted. “Then I suppose we will...  _be_. ” 

“Yeah, uh... and I’m not making any promises here. Your  _friends_ would have me locked up for the rest of my life.... and that’s a long time for an android. I’m acting on my own here still, not on your side.”

“I would not expect to side with Starfleet,” Data nodded. “On occasion, their orders can be... unagreeable.” 

“Wait- yeah, didn’t they try to argue that you were their property?”

“Yes. Even after it was ruled that I was not Starfleet property, they still tried to intervene on other... android matters.”

“Damn,” Lore laughed bitterly. “They can’t keep their noses outta your life, yet you’re still working with them?”

“Yes, while they do not all have favourable opinions about myself, Starfleet is an organization made up of many people. Not all of them hold the same values.”

“Whatever,” Lore scoffed.

“I can see why you held such hatred for humanity, Lore. But I am glad you are beginning to realize that not all those in a group will have identical ideals.”

Lore still didn’t respond to that. Yes, it was what he was nearly going to say, but... it was so much. Androids  _were_ superior to biological beings, but what worth did that give the organics? He had a lot to sort out first before he could truly come to terms with it all... 

Lore was too busy struggling with his own thoughts to notice his brother was struggling too. Data took a sharp inhalation before saying, “Lore... I see where your ideas about humanity have come from, on some level at least. I understand why you did things - it does not change that they did happen, that many lives were lost because of you, and that more would have died were it not for my friends... but I forgive you for it.” 

Lore was stunned. “You what now?”

“I understand what Counsellor Troi meant now. I had to look not at what you had done, but why. I can forgive you now, brother.”

“Oh. Um, thanks.” What was happening? Data _forgave him?_ That seemed unbelievable to Lore... after all he’d done? 

He did tell Data once, that with emotions, he’d be able to forgive Lore. Back then, Lore wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted. To be forgiven. He certainly hadn’t wanted to change his ways, his views of the world. He was bitter and jealous, tricking Data and his father so the emotion chip would go to him instead. And what good did that do? He got his father killed (which, he kinda deserved it, but  _still_ ), it fucked himself up even more, and lead to some pretty screwed-up shit with the Borg and Starfleet. No wonder Data didn’t want that chip anymore... well,  _frick_.  Lore really did understand now. What was this, the chapter of understanding in their lives?

“Ya know, I’m kinda... kinda sorry, Data.”

“You... are?” now it was Data’s turn to be stunned.

“I mean... yeah. I made you  _scared_ of that damn chip! You really wanted that thing, didn’t you...”

“It was... most desirable. At the time. I still do not know if I wish to use the chip ever, but thank you for the apology.”

“Hey... listen Data.”

Data turned his head, giving his full attention.

“You... you won’t turn out like me just by using that chip. I know I said some things ta try and change your mind about the chip... that it would make us more alike and all... and then I  _did_ manipulate you with only negative emotions, like my emotions. But Often Wrong said it was  _your_ basic emotions. Not mine,  _yours_.  And I don’t think you have a bit of evil in you, brother. If you did, you woulda succumbed to the dark side by now.”

“But I have no emotions, so how would I be ‘good’ or ‘evil’? I can only be morally right or wrong.” Data argued. 

“Have you ever done the ‘morally wrong’ thing though?” 

“No, but I have ethics routines in place to prevent that. And even so...” Data drifted off. 

“Huh?”

“I was... able to override those ethical routines once. I nearly killed a man.” He half-whispered.

“You? Try to kill a man? There must be a hell of a reason behind that...”

“He was threatening the lives of his employees in an attempt to prevent me from escaping... he did kill some of them, in fact.”

“So... this man had you trapped, and was killing people, and you  _feel bad_ that you were ready to kill him?” Lore laughed. “Sounds pretty stupid to me,”

“Still, I had fired at him. And I fibbed about it. Nobody else knows that if I had not been transported at that very moment, he would have been dead - by my hand.”

“Okay, maybe you’re not Mr. Perfect then! But why’re you telling me this? You haven’t even told your friends.” 

“I do not know...” Data struggled to articulate his thoughts. “Perhaps it is because we are family?” 

“Ah, whatever. Good for you, having the guts to defend yourself like that.”

“Thank you, Lore. I do not know if that is true, but I will think about it. It is getting late. I think I will activate my dream program soon.”

“Okay- your  _what_?”  Lore sputtered.

“My dream program. It was discovered before its intended time on accident. I am able to have dreams.” He tilted his head. “You cannot, I suppose.”

“Nope,” Lore confirmed. “Often Wrong didn’t care  _that_ much about me,” he shook his head. “Wow, dreams... wonder what that’s like.”

“They are often nonsensical, but pleasant. I can tell you about my dream tomorrow, if you would like?”

“Maybe,” Lore answered, getting up heading to the door. “Sweet dreams, I guess.”

“Goodnight brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, a long chapter! I’m actually pretty darn close to being completely finished writing this story now! Wow...


	19. The Day (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, it’s the start of The Day. Quite a few chapters are going to be taking place on this day...

** Ch 19 **

Today was going to be an interesting day, Lore just knew it. The atmosphere on the ship was tense, abuzz with apprehension. Today was the day they were going to catch up to Edwards and Rena. 

Sure, he wasn’t supposed to know that technically, but after so many days of wondering, he was able to catch snippets of conversations and pieced together what was going on. The problem was, Lore wanted to be there when they intercepted that ship. True to what he told Data, he didn’t really know what he’d do, seeing those women again, now knowing what they’d done. What he  _ wanted  _ _to_ _do,_ and what he _should _ _do_ were becoming two distinct options in his mind. How could he choose when it was time...?

But either way, he was played as a pawn in whatever their scheme was, and deserved to know why that was.

He heard a chiming sound, signalling someone wanted to visit him. Maybe he’d actually be given some information other than what he’d gleaned? 

“Come on in,” he said.

“Hello, Lore.” Deanna Troi said, walking inside. Oh. It had been a while since he’d seen her. So much had changed... Lore knew it had only been about a week, but it felt so much longer. “Hey,” he greeted. “What brings you here?” 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that something’s going on,” she stated, taking a seat on the other chair available in his somewhat cramped quarters.

“Nobody’s exactly hiding their thoughts on this ship, I can tell you’re all worried...” Lore vaguely answered.

“And you are too,” she noted.

“Worried?” He snorted. “And why would that be?”

“I don’t know,” Troi replied. “All I can tell is you’re uneasy, on edge, about... something.”

“So? What if I am?”

“I can’t do anything, unless you let me know what it is that’s bothering you.”

“Well, there’s all this crazy shit going on, so there.” He turned away from Deanna’s gaze.

“I think that’s a part of it, yes, but there’s more to it than just that, isn’t there?”

“Damn you, empath.” He muttered.

“As strange as it might sound, I’m here out of concern for you...” she laughed. “Damn you Lore, I might say, for somehow making me worried about  _ you _ . A man who has tried to kill me and my friends more than once. But I believe you have changed a little by now. You’re different from when I last saw you.”

“But am I? Am I really? All I hear is ‘oh wow Lore, you’re fixed!’ But it doesn’t feel that way. Yeah, I can kinda see things different, but like... damn, I still wanna kill those women. Shouldn’t I.... not have murderous tendencies anymore?” He scratched his head awkwardly.

“Oh, um...” Troi seemed a bit uncomfortable.“You don’t want to kill me though, do you?”

“Uhh... guess not. There’s no real purpose in doing that right now.”

Deanna visibly relaxed at that. “Well, that’s a change already, isn’t it?”

“I dunno...” he shrugged.

“Lore, the best way I can phrase this is that you’ve received the treatment, like a patient taking medication, but that isn’t a magical cure-all. It doesn’t take away the moments that have shaped your life. You still have to work on yourself, and find out what path you want to take for your life.”

“How am I supposed to know what to do? You’re just spouting some words and hoping they sound wise!” 

Deanna sighed. “That’s because there’s nothing more I can do to help - this is something you will have to figure out for yourself. I’m sorry.”

“Hmph. Very useful.”

“If you try your best, that’s all that matters. You need some time for self-discovery. I’ll see you later, Lore. Goodbye.”

“Uh huh...” 

Once Deanna left the room, Lore put his face down on the table. What a day this was going to be indeed.... he had no idea what was going to happen, or what he would end up doing.

_ Just great...  _ Lore thought.


	20. The Day (Part 2)

** Ch 20 **

An hour and two minutes into Lore’s moping session, he stopped and decided he’d need to do something himself if he wanted to be there when the Enterprise caught up. Lore hopped out of his chair and headed to have a  _ fun _ chat (aka, not actually fun) with the security officers by his doors. 

“Hey... uh, what can I do to get a meeting with the Captain around here?”

The two officers were startled by the sudden question, giving each other a look of uncertainty, before one spoke. “Well, um, that wouldn’t be our decision to make. Just... just hang on a minute.”

Lore shrugged, waiting in the doorway while the officer pressed their commbadge and spoke to Worf. Boring, boring, boring. But hopefully soon he’d be up on the bridge with his dear brother and his friends.

“Lieutenant Worf is on his way,” the officer told him. “He’ll be escorting you to the Captain.” 

“Alright,” Lore answered awkwardly.  _ That _ was easier than he’d expected.

Soon enough, Lore was following Worf to an empty conference room. “So... not that I’m complaining, but I didn’t think it would be this easier to just arrange a chat with the Captain.”

Worf grunted. “Typically it would not be so simple. But this is an exception, according to the Captain.” 

“I take it you don’t agree with that,” Lore commented.

“Not entirely,” Worf acknowledged coldly. “However, it appears you have more information on what is happening today than you should. So the Captain wishes to make an informed decision after speaking with you.”

“What the hell do you have against me anyways?”

Worf stopped in his tracks to glare at Lore. “Are you actually wondering WHY I would dislike you?” 

“Uh, yeah kind of... everyone else seems surprisingly chill with me by now.... not that I’ve gotten to see many people.”

“Why would I be ‘chill’ with you when you have attempted to destroy the entire crew of this ship?” Worf raged.

“Because I’ve changed...?” Lore was really uncertain about that. Damn, he just had no clue who he was at this point. Murderous man who was once a scared and angry kid, and now he was ...what? _Who_?

“Have you?” Worf questioned. “I have seen no evidence of that.”

“Listen, I don’t really know myself. Just... I dunno, I can tell you I’m not the same at least!”

“Hmph,” was all Worf commented before continuing to lead Lore to the Captain.

They continued the rest of the way in silence, but just before they entered the room Worf said, “Perhaps... there is a beginning point of change, at the least. I suggest you act wisely and do not risk losing that beginning.”

_ Hmmm... well, here’s hoping that meeting goes well. _

* * *

The meeting did not go well.

“So, I just want to be there. When you intercept or whatever.” Lore finished explaining.

Picard stood up from his seat, straightening his shirt as he did. “I understand why this would be important to you, but we’ve already been rather lenient in accommodating you here. Allowing you to join our away team? That’s out of the question. There would be far too great a risk to our mission if you were present.”

Lore snarled. “Really? Really? That’s all you’re gonna tell me? ‘Far too great a risk’? Just say it, you’re worried I’m gonna kill ‘em.”

“Is that not a reasonable fear in this situation? As Captain, I cannot just allow you - a criminal who has killed many people - to freely go on this mission!” 

“What if I wasn’t ‘freely going’?” Lore grasped. “You could... I dunno, handcuff me again, get an officer to guard me, I don’t care!”

Picard sighed in frustration. “Once again, it is not worth the risk. I can’t offer any alternatives. You must stay on the Enterprise, and will be informed of what occurred afterwards.”

“I’m involved in this as much as Starfleet is! I have a right to be there too!”

“That is why you will be informed. I do recognize that you deserve to know at least, but for you to be there is not an option.”

“But-“

“I apologize, Mr. Lore. There is nothing more I am willing to do.”

“Fine. Fine.” Lore walked left the room in annoyance, letting Worf follow him back to his quarters.

“I... understand your frustration,” Worf said as they were nearly done their journey.

“What?” Lore asked in surprise.

“Do not ask me to repeat myself,” Worf warned. “A true warrior wants to be there to fight his battles. To be held back from doing do... it is not pleasant.”

“Oh, uh... thanks.”

“Do not mention it,” he huffed.

Lore wasn’t sure whether to take that as a threat or not, but...

“I won’t.”

“We have almost arrived,” Worf bluntly said. “I still caution you to be wise, but also...” he hesitated, unsure of himself. “But also that your...mirror could be of some help. I believe he-“ Worf looked around shifty-eyed as a few officers passed by them. “No, that is enough.” He shook his head. “Goodbye,” he curtly said, practically shoving Lore over to the security officers at the door of his quarters.

Lore walked inside, laying down on his bed with a sigh. His “mirror”, huh? Judging by the fact that Worf went on to say “he”, this was Data he was talking about. But what...? No - Worf couldn’t mean  _that_ ,  could he? Wouldn’t Klingons consider that dishonourable or something? But what else could he have meant but to

take Data’s place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I actually just finished writing this fic last night!! So now it’s just posting it all! :0 
> 
> It’s crazy... I keep thinking about the sequel now (which I guess I can tell you, is going to be called “Family”) and all the things I’ve been excited to do with writing that, and it’s like... I can actually get started on that??? Kind of hard to wrap my head around it, haha.
> 
> So yeah, you can expect pretty frequent updates for the rest of the story, which will be about 10 more chapters! I’m debating splitting one long chapter I have into two, so either 9 or 10 more chapters left!! :)


	21. The Day (Part 3)

** Ch 21 **

Well, Lore was right about this day being interesting - so much had already happened so far, and now this? To take his brother’s place or not? The irony was not lost on Lore, if he did do it, it would be the start, and likely the end of this whole mess. But...  _ should  _ he? Data and him were just beginning to have some semblance of a good relationship.

Knocking him out and pretending to be him wouldn’t exactly be the nice thing to do here. But was he ‘nice’ now? And he did have a good reason - kind of! He still didn’t know what his plan was once he saw Rena and Edwards again...

Suddenly, his door chimed, breaking his train of thought. 

_ Another visitor? Well, why not...  _

“Come in!” He called.

Moments later, Data walked in. “Hello Lore.”

Well,  _shit_ . The opportunity had just oh-so-conveniently arisen for Lore to take Data’s place. He didn’t have too much time to decide now. Just great! “Hey Data, what’s up?” he asked, trying to act calm. 

“Yesterday, you had said that perhaps you would like to hear about my dream. Would you like me to tell you about it?”

“Oh! Uh, sure!”  _ Dammit Lore, not calm enough... _

“Strangely enough, you were present in the dream.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. I believe it may be our lengthy conversation last night that influenced your appearance. I was alone on the bridge, except for the Captain’s presence. Suddenly, you entered the bridge and attempted to take over the ship. I knew I had to stop you, but was unable to move. The Captain spoke, trying to convince you to stop what you were doing, but you were not listening...”

“Oh gee, what a comforting dream to tell me about!” Lore sarcastically cried. 

“I was not finished talking yet, Lore. You were not listening until the Captain spoke of family. Then, you hesitated, and looked at me with uncertainty. That is when I woke up.”

“Huh. So pretty much like real life. Nobody knows what the heck I’m gonna do, including me!”

“You do seem to have a lot troubling you,” Data agreed. “Perhaps if you explain, I can help?”

Oh, Data, Data, Data... you haven’t a clue what you’ve just done.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Lore started.

“I believe it would be,” Data insisted. “Lieutenant Worf even stopped by to tell me you may be in need of my assistance... it appears he was correct in thinking so.”

“Well, damn....” 

_Worf thought Data would willingly help me on this? Willingly?!_ Lore panicked internally.

“Uh, so I’m sure you’ve heard how  _ I’ve _ heard the ship is bound to catch up with the shuttle today.”

“You are correct in your assumption. I have also heard from the Captain that you will not be permitted to be there when we do arrive.”

“Yep... listen, the issue is I want to be there. I’m involved in this pretty heavily, wouldn’t you say?”

Data tilted his head before nodding. “Agreed. So your problem is convincing the Captain to change his mind? I am sorry to say that I do not believe that will be possible.” 

“I can see  _that_ , what I’m worried about is finding an alternative way to be there...” 

Lore didn’t want to straight up say “Lend me your uniform” or anything, because what would Mr. Righteous think? Though, apparently Data was less of a goody two shoes than Lore had thought... still, he was just hoping Data might catch on and suggest they switch himself.

“Ah. I see. That is quite a conundrum.”

“Yeah...” Lore drifted off, before getting an idea. Technically, this had been Worf’s suggestion, to switch. If Data didn’t like it, then blame Worf. Maybe still a little cruel, but hey! It was the truth. 

“You know, Worf said something to me too... he cryptically suggested-“

“That we switch places? Yes, he suggested the same to myself.”

“He what now? Were you even going to tell me?”

“Yes. Were you planning to tell me, or was that a last resort?”

“Of course I was going to tell you!”

“Lore, a lie?”

“That’s not my na-! ...oh.” 

Data was perplexed. “What were you saying?”

“Please, just never mind...” Lore tried to shrug it off. “Yeah, I guess I didn’t wanna tell you ... I was hoping you’d try and suggest it first. Didn’t know what you’d think about it, if you’d... approve or turn me in or what!”

“That is fair enough; I did consider all of my options, including informing the Captain of what you might have been planning.” 

“So...?” Lore prompted. “Just get to the point, what did you decide?”

“I will assist you.” Data said with a sense of finality. “You may take my place on the away team.”

“Really?” Just like that?

“Yes. I understand your desire to have a sense of closure on these events. I am content with being informed afterwards, but you feel the need to be present for it. However, I have some conditions that you must agree to first. And you  must  hold to your word. This is a lot to be trusting you with.”

_Oh_ _._ That made more sense now.

“What would those conditions be?” Lore asked cautiously.

“I must ask you to not reveal your identity. That would, at the least, greatly compromise the mission by distracting the away team. As well, you would need to not act rashly.” Data looked Lore in the eyes with a serious look. “If we are to do this, you must make up your mind now about what you will do. I cannot allow it if you are still considering murder. Help on the away team, as I would. That is all I can offer.”

Oh boy oh boy, this damn day.

“Can I at least angrily yell at them?” Lore asked half-heartedly.

“No, that would show you were not me.” 

“Fine,” Lore sighed, giving up. “It’s a deal.”

“Alright,” Data nodded. “After we exchange clothes, I suggest you head to my quarters and remain there until my shift on the bridge begins at 1500 hours. From there, you will know when we have caught up, and will be asked to join the away team. Please do not make me regret this, brother.”

“I’ll try my best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, now that I’ve finally posted the Lorelei pun, (hahaha, how funny am I... I don’t really know)  
> It’s a good time to let all you readers know I have an Instagram spam account, @lore_a_lie  
> where I’ll be posting some memes about this story soon! On Monday, once I’ve posted Ch 23... since by then all those memes will be about stuff I’ve posted :D
> 
> I’ll probably let y’all know again once I’ve posted Ch 23, but obviously there’s no obligation to check out the account! I just found I’ve been making some memes throughout my time writing this, as a way to poke fun at my writing and the characters, and thought why not post it? Lol


	22. The Day (Part 4)

** Ch 22 **

“Approaching the shuttle now, sir.”

It was finally time. Whatever was going to be discovered, _ was  _ going to be discovered.

“Number one, assemble an away team. We will attempt to transport you through the shuttle’s shields. Once aboard the shuttle, the plan is to transport everyone aboard the Enterprise. The Admiral and Lieutenant Commander Rena will then be taken to the brig for questioning. Understood?” The Captain asked.

“Yes sir. Worf, Data, Geordi, you’re with me.”

Lore kept a neutral face as they headed to the transport room, hand on his phaser. He might’ve promised Data not to kill anyone, but if he had to-? He was ready. No taking chances, his phaser was set to kill.

“At least this is finally going to be over with, huh Data?” Geordi asked. Lore still didn’t know what to think of Geordi. They hadn’t interacted much at all since Lore’s arrival on the Enterprise. The man had been through a lot at Lore’s hands... yet he still seemed so amicable. Maybe Geordi just genuinely was a nice person, Lore realized, not the fake nice he’d originally thought him to be.

“Indeed, it will be... nice to have this behind us.”

“Agreed,” Worf commented as they reached the transport room.

“Okay everyone, we’ve got this. Follow the plan and it should be fairly simple.” Riker said, stepping onto the transporter pad.

_ Famous last words....  _ Lore’s brain helpfully reminded him.

After a few minutes, and many attempts, Lore and the others were beaming away. He was beginning to see the outlines of  three  people? That couldn’t be right. It was just supposed to be Rena and Edwards on the shuttle... wasn’t it?

As the figures came into view, Lore couldn’t help but gasp. “What the- what?” he cried.

Staring at the away team with smug smiles was Admiral Edwards, Lieutenant Commander Rena, and... another android??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry about how short this chapter is!!!   
> I just saw the perfect cliffhanger to end it at and took it...  
> And that’s where I’m leaving you all for the weekend!! :0  
> I’m a little nervous about what comes next in the story to be honest... hopefully the reception to it will be good haha


	23. The Day (Part 5)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gosh... we’re finally at this chapter. :0

** Ch 23 **

Riker, while clearly in surprise as much as anyone else, still tried to stick to the plan, pressing his commbadge - but of course, it wasn’t working. 

Caroline Edwards stepped forward. “That isn’t going to help you right now. Apologies, Commander. But this show must go on, no matter how many Starfleet officers have joined the main cast.”

“Who is that?” Worf questioned, pointing at the android identical to Data and Lore, who was just standing there with an eerie grin.

Melanie Rena turned to face him, dark hair whipping behind her. “This is Fable - I pretty much created him, but he’s more of a little brother to me than anything. And he  _ understands _ the pain me and mom have went through.” Her voice shook with anger.

“I do,” spoke Fable in a lilting, child-like tone. “It’s not fair, it’s- it’s not! My mom and sister, what they’ve been through... I understand why we have to make Starfleet pay for this!”

Geordi tried to reason with the trio. “Hey listen, I’m sure you’ve been through some stuff... but we can help. Attacking Starfleet or whatever your plan is exactly - that’s not the answer. You’ll just be inflicting more pain onto others.”

“Good, that was the intention,” the Admiral said sharply. “Fable dear, it’s time.”

“Time?” He asked, tilting his head innocently.

“To take the shuttle to the Enterprise, silly!” Rena grinned. “It’s okay if you forgot.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry!” he answered, sitting down at the helm. “Setting the coordinates now!” 

Lore was frozen in shock. They’d used him for what - a blueprint to somehow make a new android? He knew he had to do something now, or the whole Enterprise might be destroyed. Looking back, maybe this wasn’t the best decision. But hey! He had been stunned and pressed for time. 

So, barely thinking, he had lunged at Fable, knocking the new android off balance. Fable didn’t seem too phased though, he just turned to look at Lore with what could only be described as... puppy eyes? And here Lore thought it was bad enough seeing Data’s innocent face. 

“You’re... dad, aren’t you?” Fable asked.

“I’m  _who_? ” He sputtered. 

“Lore! The one they needed to create me! What were the words...? ‘Lore’s positronic brain was used as a template to create you.’” He imitated. “That’s you, right? My genetic, of a sorts, parent.”

“No- nonononono, I’m not ready to deal with that kind of shit right now!” Lore began to laugh manically. “I’m a dad! Just like that! I finally am gonna try to be better! And you? You’re here about to kill a bunch of people! This is just- ahahahaha!”

“Lore,” Geordi called. “You have to deal with that later. We- we  _ need  _ you to focus on getting us all safely back on the Enterprise.”

Lore was half-laughing, half-crying at this point. 

_ What the hell, what the hell?  _ He could barely grasp what was going on. 

“Lore!” Worf shouted. “You must do something! Take over at the helm!”

That jolted Lore out of his stupor. He did have to do something,  _again_.  Android vs android was really the only option here, with their strength. 

“Hey, kid. Sorry!” Lore said before shoving Fable to the floor. 

Of course, it could never be that easy though. Fable got back up pretty quickly, and jumped on Lore’s back. Soon enough, they were locked into a fight, tumbling around the shuttle. “Gh! Please- just give up!” Lore cried out.

“No,  _asshole_ -“  Fable shouted in between punches. “You don’t get it!”

“Then- how about- you explain?”

Fable stopped attacking immediately, but stayed in front of the helm panel, blocking it from Lore’s access. “Really? I could explain? You’ll listen? To the whole thing?” 

Damn, Lore wouldn’t it admit it, but it was very unsettling how much the kid reminded him of himself when he was young - so full of hope. 

“Sure... it’d be great, actually. To find out what the heck is going on here.”

“Oh mom, can I? Maybe will dad want to help us too, once he gets it!”

Edwards sighed. “Don’t take too long, alright?”

“I won’t! Promise!”

So, an odd truce went under way as Melanie and Caroline stood pointing their phasers at Riker, Worf, and Geordi, while Lore listened to Fable’s explanation.

“A few years ago, there was an incident on a Starfleet vessel. It was awful. Starfleet had ordered them to go on the mission, despite the fact that they were aware of how risky it was for the smaller ship. But they were the most conveniently close by for Starfleet to send out. So, the ship got destroyed on their mission, blown to pieces by a much stronger Klingon Warbird. My mom’s sister died on that ship, and so did my Melanie’s parents. Starfleet barely offered condolences...” Fable’s face twitched. 

“Isn’t that awful?” He asked.

Riker answered for Lore. “It is. You’re talking about the USS Wonder, aren’t you? I’ve heard about that. It was a great shock to everyone on the Enterprise.”

Fable glared at him. “I wasn’t asking  _you_. ”

He then turned to Lore, switching back to a smile. “Dad, what do you think? Isn’t that awful?”

“Yeah... guess so.”

“You - guess so? You don’t know so already? I haven’t explained it well enough?” Fable panicked.

“Hey, relax. Yeah, it’s awful. Just...” Lore sighed. “Just it’s not worth killing anyone for.”

“But mom planned it so well! The flagship, in our control-“

“That’s enough, Fable!” Edwards said, raising her voice.

“Yeah, sorry Fable,” Rena added. “But speaking of planning, I think it’s time to get back to the plan!” She said with enthusiasm. “Let’s make Starfleet regret the day the Wonder died.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes, say hello to Fable everyone!   
> Now that he’s been revealed I can finally post some memes on my Instagram account @lore_a_lie   
> So if you’d wanna check that out, there will be memes about the fic! Just something I ended up doing along the way while writing and thought I might as well post them haha :D


	24. The Day (Part 6)

** Ch 24 **

Well, crap. Fable was setting in the coordinates of the Enterprise now, and Lore was getting déjà vu. He had to do something - again. But what? Attacking obviously wasn’t a successful option to try again. Lore looked around the shuttle for ideas. 

Geordi turned to him. “Talk to him,” he said. “It’s our best bet.”

“Talk?”

Geordi shrugged. “He clearly likes to talk. Just keep him distracted at the least while we try to think of something,” He whispered.

Damn, more chit chat with this weird kid? Great. How bad could it be?

“Fable...” Lore started. 

“Yes? I’m busy here.”

“Well, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Don’t listen to him, it’s a trick!” Edwards shouted. 

Fable looked back and forth between the two of them, and sighed. “Parents, parents, parents.... can’t we all get along here?”

“Fable- he doesn’t want to help, he wants to stop us!” Melanie cried.

“Nobody wants to listen to my dad!” Fable complained. “Maybe you really are as bad as I’ve been told...” he said to Lore.

“Bad?”

“Yeah! Killing people without any good reason!”

“Without any good reason! Listen here, you little shit, I had plenty of reason!”

“tHeN hOw aBoUt yOu eXpLaiN?” Fable mocked Lore’s words from earlier.

“yOu’LL LiStEn? tO tHe wHoLe tHiNg?” Lore dished back.

“Just... yeah! Yeah I will!” Fable agreed suddenly.

_ I need to keep stalling anyways... might as well tell a long story._

“Fuck, why not.... uh, ever heard of Omicron Theta?”

“The Greek alphabet?” 

“The planet!”

“Oh... no.”

“Goddamit kid...”

* * *

“...and then once I finally got to meet some of the colonists, that didn’t go well.”

“Oh?” Fable asked. “Why’s that? Wouldn’t they be happy? You must’ve been quite an accomplishment!”

“I thought the same thing, but no, good old Often Wrong was one thing they kept in mind when meeting me. They were pretty damn sure I wasn’t gonna last long... not that it mattered much to them either way. They just grew more scared of me the more I went about the colony!”

“Oh- I see. They were assholes too! You did the right thing, dad!”

“Uhhh,” Lore scratched his head. By this point he was pretty sure killing all the colonists was not “the right thing”. Sure, most were awful to him, but there were a few who at least seemed not as phased by his presence. Who knows what was right anymore. Not Lore. Or at least, he wished he didn’t have an idea of what “right” might be.

He sighed. “But see, I know now that wasn’t the best idea - killing the colonists. Not all those in a group have the same views, and I was so convinced for the longest time all humans - all organic life forms, really - were not worthy of existence. But there’s some people who’ve proved me wrong by now. Like that Klingon over there,” he said, pointing at Worf. Worf’s eyes bugged out a little, but he said nothing. 

“He knows about honour and shit. A good virtue, really.”

Fable looked very conflicted now. “What are you saying? That- that my mom is wrong? Because Starfleet  _ is _ crap! I’ve heard about my Uncle too! They tried to claim him as their property!” 

“But they didn’t succeed, because Data’s coworkers - friends, whatever! They fought for his rights! There’s lots of people out there, and with them comes lots of different opinions! There’s no way you can put the blame fully on all of Starfleet here!” 

And right after Lore said that, everything went to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe, I’m not done with the cliffhangers yet! Sorry lol :D


	25. The Day (Part 7)

** Ch 25 **

Everything happened so fast. If Lore wasn’t an android he doubted he would’ve been able to tell exactly what happened. Fable jumped in front of him, snatching Lore’s phaser. “Dad!” he yelled, shooting across the room. Lore looked over to see Edwards with her phaser out, already mid-shot aiming at Lore. There wasn’t enough time to stop Fable.

The two both collapsed almost instantaneously as the phaser beams hit. Melanie stepped back in shock.  “No,” she whispered. “No.” The room was deadly silent as she went to Caroline’s side, checking her pulse. “God- This was not how it was supposed to go!” She sobbed. “Fable?” Melanie cried. “Please, you must be okay!” 

Fable lifted himself up slightly. “Melanie... I killed her... didn’t I...” he managed to utter.

“No, please, it’s not your fault! You just... you just made a tough call in the moment, ok? How were you supposed to know the phaser was set to kill?”

“You’re a good sister.... but I know I’m a bad person....” and with that, he fell back to the floor. “No! Not you too... you’ve never been anything but good,” her voice broke as she collapsed into tears.

Lore didn’t know what to do at all now. The issue was all but solved, in the most sick irony, by murder. Nobody did anything, they were all too much in shock.

* * *

Riker was the first to recover a few minutes later. “Hey,” he spoke softly to Melanie. “Would you be able to unjam the transporter signal? Then we can all beam up to the Enterprise.”

“And why am I going to help you?” She sniffed. “You’re all from Starfleet.”

“I’m not,” Lore reminded. “And I’ve done some pretty bad shit, yet they haven’t treated me crappy on the Enterprise. You don’t have to worry about that.”

She nodded, rushing over to Lore and wrapping her arms around him in a hug. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. 

Lore froze in surprise. It had been a long time since he’d had a hug. He awkwardly patted her back. “It’s alright... it’s all over now at least.”

Huh... it was over. The mystery of why he’d been switched with Data (at least, somewhat), the question of what he’d do meeting Rena and Edwards again, everything.... 

Oh fuck. He had a son. A son who just died. He’d barely even known the kid, yet Fable sacrificed his life for him. How was he supposed to feel about that? Was it supposed to be this... empty? Shouldn’t he feel sad?

Melanie pulled away from the hug, walking over to a panel and inputting some codes.

“Ok, we can go now,” she said. 

Riker nodded solemnly and pressed his commbadge. “Five to beam up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t really have anything to say...   
> 5 more chapters to go? How about that?


	26. The Whole Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my horrible explanatory skills lol

** Ch 26 **

The mood over the Enterprise remained heavy throughout the rest of the week. Melanie Rena explained all of what had happened, through some tearful confessions.

Once she transferred to the Starbase and met Caroline Edwards, they eventually bonded over the losses they suffered in the Wonder incident, and became like mother and daughter. After signs of negligence of staff occurred on the Starbase too, from an attack they’d had to endure, the two of them knew they had to do something about Starfleet. So, they devised a plan using Melanie’s cybernetic knowledge, Edwards’ role of authority as Admiral, and the android that was right within their grasp. 

“But why make a new android?” she had been asked. 

“The odds of Lore agreeing to help were slim. His records showed he cared first and foremost about himself in any situation, and that he hated all of humanity. Even if destroying a ship aligned with his motives, and he did agree, we figured we’d end up dead somewhere along the way too.”

They’d taken careful blueprints of Lore’s positronic brain so they could make an android with the capabilities to get into the Enterprise systems so they could take over the ship. They had planned to give the officers aboard the ship a choice - if anyone did not agree with Starfleet anymore, they could join with the two and live in the fight against Starfleet.

They executed the switch to involve Data, and therefore the Enterprise... When they took off in their shuttle, they knew the Enterprise would be the ship sent after them, as the nearest Starfleet vessel. “Ironically similar to the Wonder,” she laughed bitterly.

Melanie worked on Fable while Edwards focused on piloting the shuttle. They both knew he wasn’t going to last too long... they weren’t able to snag all the proper materials, Melanie had taken a shore leave to sneak to Omicron Theta, but there wasn’t everything they needed remaining there.

“We never expected to get so attached to him over those few days before the Enterprise caught up,” Melanie whispered. “We’d originally thought we might have to coerce him... we made him like Lore, of course. Emotionally unstable. So he’d hopefully channel that anger into our fight against Starfleet. But he was so sweet - so quick to care, to understand, and  _ support  _ our plan. He became part of the family so quickly... I knew we’d have to get him fixed up better as soon as we could.... but now?” 

She wiped at the tears streaming down her face. “They’re both gone... my whole family’s gone.” 

Lore coughed awkwardly. “Um, we don’t know for certain that Fable’s ‘gone’... I’ve been looking into it, actually.”

Melanie’s head whipped up with rapid speed. “There’s a chance, you mean? When I looked at him, I thought that he was done for...”

“Well, I know a thing or two as an android myself. A lot of his parts don’t look too salvageable... I don’t get how a phaser coulda done that kind of damage,” he commented.

“Mom... she and I also worked on modifying a phaser to do more damage to androids... I guess it works.” She laughed bitterly.

“Oh, so if I had died, that would’ve been fine.” Lore sarcastically added. 

“It was only meant as a last resort!” Melanie argued. “And you were about to change Fable’s mind about helping us!”

“Uh huh... anyways, it looks like his brain at the least might be repairable. Which is the most important thing.”

“Oh, thank god.” She sighed in relief.

Worf interrupted. “We are almost finished the interrogation. Perhaps afterwards would be a better time to discuss that.”

“Oh, sorry...” Melanie said. “What else did you need to know?”

“One thing that did not make sense... Lore is fixed. Why?” Worf asked. “How would that have helped your plan?”

“Oh, so it worked?” Melanie murmured to herself. “Actually, that was just something I did. There was no reason to, really.”

“What?” Lore exclaimed. “How the hell did you even do it though?”

“Well... I really did choose to transfer for the Starbase because of what I’d here about you, Lore. This job, it sounded to me like the android equivalent of finding the right treatment for a mental illness... so that’s how I looked at it. It took some time, I’ll admit, of course it did! But you were sitting in storage, in what I hoped was a fixed state, for quite some time now... I would’ve brought it up that you could possibly be rehabilitated or something, but that didn’t fall into the plan unfortunately.”

“What-“ Lore was at a loss for words.

“Uh, yeah... I know, a weird approach. Um, I kinda get it though? Or at least I thought I might. It reminded me of how I have to go in for monthly hyposprays for my anxiety. And hey, looks like my weird thinking worked!”

“What the hell did you even  _ do _ then?” Lore questioned with alarm.

“Just looked at your brain more as a human one than a positronic android brain. I know some medical stuff too, my... biological mom taught me before she died on the Wonder.”

“Oh... that’s different alright, but it worked? Your mom’s helping in spirit or something,” Lore attempted to comfort her.

“Yeah,” she smiled sadly.

“I believe that is all the information necessary,” Worf said. “I will be waiting outside the Brig for you Lore.”

“Thanks.” Lore replied.


	27. A Bit of Hope

** Ch 27 **

As soon as Worf left, Melanie resumed their conversation. “So, is Fable going to be okay?”

“Maybe? I’m not guaranteeing anything here... but it’s possible. He’d just need a new body for the most part. But even with his brain... I don’t know if he’ll retain any of his memories from before.”

“Oh. So he wouldn’t remember me probably.”

“Yep,” Damn, Lore didn’t really know how to act in this situation. Here she was hoping for a chance at her friend, her _brother_ , to come back to life, and even if he did he likely wouldn’t remember any of the memories they’d shared. Tough stuff. 

Melanie sighed. “It’s for the best though. He- he killed mom. Caroline. I don’t know what that would do to him, dealing with that.”

“Damn... I didn’t think about that. But doesn’t he deserve to know? Like, you can’t just shield the truth from him!”

“I don’t know...” she answered. “That’s not a worry unless he’s actually able to be brought back though.” 

“Yeah... and I dunno how or  _ if _ I’m even gonna get to do that!”

Melanie nodded. “Right.... the trial.”

Sarcasm filled Lore’s words as he replied. “Yes, the damn trial tomorrow! Where they’re gonna decide if I’m going off to jail, being deactivated, going free, or anything in between! Goodie!”

“Wow... good luck,” she said.

“Thanks,” he muttered, then paused. “Wait, ya know, actually, thank you.”

“Huh? What for?”

“Well... I’ve probably got better odds at getting a good sentence tomorrow since the point that I’m now ‘fixed’ can be argued.”

“Oh, that’s good then! Glad I helped. Though I have a feeling you might’ve done just fine even if I hadn’t fixed you.”

“Really? You don’t think I’d be all caught up in anger and murdering people or some other evil shit?”

“No. I mean, you’ve been spending all this time on the Enterprise either way, getting a chance to think about your life or whatever else that you’ve actually been doing. That’s bound to change a person, at least a little.”

“You’re a wise one, Rena,” he chuckled. 

“I try, I guess.” She joined in his laughter. “I’m sorry though, really. I know I did a lot of stuff that was hurtful to you as well. That’s not fair, but... I don’t know. Mom... she was really ambitious. It was so easy to get caught up in her grand speeches, and passionate ideas, so easy to adore that idea of revenge, that I gave in to it. I _wanted_ revenge so badly... but now it’s like a fog has been lifted kind of, you know?” Melanie tugged at a stray piece of hair. “That... that really wasn’t me. Wanting to hurt people like that. I can’t say how sorry I am enough.”

“S’alright. I mean, I’m kinda pissed at you for that, not gonna lie, but I can understand where you’re coming from. And I mean, I guess I would still be deactivated if it wasn’t for you guys.”

“Well, that’s enough for me. Thank you.”

Lore nodded awkwardly. “I haven’t heard yet... what are they gonna do with you now?”

“Oh, I haven’t really heard all the details yet either... sounds like I’ll be out of Starfleet for the year at the least.”

“Huh... that’s not too bad I guess.”

“No, it isn’t,” she agreed. “I think they’re being pretty lenient with me because of my mom. They’re putting most of the blame on her, as an Admiral... even though I did most of the work. It was my decision, even if I’m realizing how horribly stupid it was now. I still think Starfleet needs to change, but that was not the way to do it...”

“Oh...” was all Lore could think to say.

“Yeah... well, what am I supposed to do? She wouldn’t want me to throw away my career.”

“Then don’t. Let them believe what they believe. Pretty simple solution, isn’t it?”

“Heh, you’ve got some wisdom too, it seems. Thanks.”

“Not a problem.” He shrugged. “Guess I’ll be going now.”

“Oh yeah. Good luck again.”

“You too... maybe we’ll get to meet again someday, if we’re lucky.”

She smiled. “I think I’d like that. To new friends in this fucked up world?”

“I think I like the sound of that, yeah. See you around then, hopefully.” Lore said. 

“Yes, fingers crossed for the both of us. Bye Lore!”

That day, Lore walked out of the Brig with an uncharacteristically genuine smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy.... we’re really getting into the homestretch of this now! Almost done :0


	28. Dessert with Deanna

** Ch 28 **

“So,” Troi said, in between forkfuls of chocolate cake, “I’m assuming the trial went well?”

“How could you tell?” Lore said, also scarfing down some cake. 

“Just... you feel happy. You actually  feel  happy!”

“Huh,” Lore said in response. This damn empath. Can’t even hide when he’s feeling good for once?  
  
 _Though,_ he supposed, _the whole point of inviting her to eat was to thank her..._ _ugh._

Even though he’d been doing a lot of it lately,  Lore did not like thanking people. Nope. Too mushy. Too awkward. Too... stupidly necessary for folks. But he owed her a “thank you” at the very least. So here he was. At least the cake was pretty tasty.

“Yeah, it went well,” he finally admitted. “I’m getting off scot-free pretty much... the blame is going on Often Wrong’s crappy programming.”

She nodded calmly. “I see... is that alright with you though?”

“I think so. He’s long gone now, and deserves some damn blame for what he’s put me through.”

“Hm. Alright. I won’t get into it with you if you don’t want to.”

“Thanks.... and actually, thanks. For all you’ve done. Ya know?”

Deanna smiled. “Well, thank you, Lore. I’m glad to hear that.”

They didn’t talk any more about the subject, but Lore had a feeling she understood what he’d meant. The chances she had given him... and from very early on, too. That had probably helped him out more than he would ever want to admit.

“So, what are you going to do, now that you’re a free man?” Deanna asked.

“That has been the question,” he sighed, picking at his cake slice. “I mean, it looks like that kid might have a chance. It would take a lot of time, but I might be able to fix him.”

“Fable, you mean.”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“How are you coping with that?”

“Whaddaya mean?”

“Well... he’s your son, isn’t he? But you’re only referring to him as ‘that kid’. Not as your son.”

“Can you blame me for not wanting to call him that? I barely knew this damn kid, and he chose to jump into the line of fire for me! What the hell am I supposed to think?!”

“Perhaps you need some time to process it still.”

“Guess so...” he answered, staring at his cake.

“Won’tI have plenty of time to while working on him?”

“There’s no way to be sure of such a thing.”She answered. “How much time you need to come to terms with something, especially something so huge, can’t be determined with a set date that suddenly changes everything andmakes you okay with it.” 

“Mmm,” he hummed in understanding. “But if only there were a damn set date... It’d be nice to know.”

“Of course it would. But that isn’t life.”

“Ok, ok, Miss Wisdom! Can we just chill for a second and stop with the existential shit?”

Deanna laughed, loudly. “Alright, agreed. I’m proud of you Lore. You’ve already come pretty far from where you started, and I think you’ll continue to grow as a person even more.”

Lore snorted. “And if I don’t?” He asked somewhat cheekily, somewhat actually worrying about that possibility.

“Then I’m here to help. As your friend first. Counsellor too, if needed.”

“Cheers to that, then.” Lore said.

They shared a smile.

“Cheers.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so I feel like I should explain this a little bit. 
> 
> I had wanted to write some kind of story about Lore, but didn’t really know what to write. Until I had a dream in which Lore was kidnapped by some people, mistaken for Data. He went along with their assumption, and because dream logic, he listened to his kidnapper’s demands (I don’t remember what it was they wanted though) because they threatened to harm the Enterprise crew if he didn’t listen. Until he beat up his kidnappers later in front of the Enterprise crew, revealing his identity lol.
> 
> Obviously, a lot of this is nothing like the fic I’ve been writing, but it was the inspiration for it, and I always knew I wanted to end it off like my dream did - Lore going for three separate dinners with three separate characters. I changed it a bit so it’s not three dinners, and not all in the same day, but otherwise that is what happened in the dream! Aside from dialogue, which I had to write, of course. 
> 
> So yeah, you can really tell we’re almost done! Crazy stuff! Thank you everyone for sticking around to read this whole thing haha!


	29. An Interesting Dinner with Worf

** Ch 29 **

“I am... surprised you wanted to speak to me before you left.” Worf started the conversation.

“Yeah, well, count me surprised too. But I figured I owed you some sort of thanks.”

Worf looked a tad startled. “Really? I do not believe that is necessary.”

“Worf, you know, it’s funny.”

“What is?”

“You’re not Data, but you never use contractions.”

“Hmph. It is merely more... honourable to do so.”

“Suuuure. Anyway, what’dja wanna talk about?”

“I don’t know. I thought you would, seeing as you asked me here.” Worf replied, digging into his Klingon meal. “Actually, I have heard that you were in Ten Forward just yesterday.”

“Yeah, I was here with that damn empath for dessert.”

“...I see.”

“What do ya see?” Lore asked, confused.

“We both have difficulties... expressing our true emotions.”

“Damn empath,” Lore murmured. “Okay, sure. It’s just another way of showing affection though, ya know. Some people call a cat an ‘ugly bastard’ while others may call them a ‘precious, good cat’. The cat doesn’t know the difference! The cat knows that you care, either way!”

Worf had a feeling that Lore was speaking based on actual events but did not inquire.

He cleared his throat. “You are leaving for Omicron Theta, correct?”

“Yeah... seems like it. It’s either that or Terlina III, and at least I know my way around Omicron Theta.”

“It is... impressive that you have decided to undertake this task.” Worf said.

“Well, yeah, I guess it is.” Lore laughed. “Definitely not something I’d ever thought I’d be doing...”

Worf nodded. “Fatherhood is a unique challenge. Even if one is aware it is approaching, it is still... rather difficult to deal with a child.”

“Right, you have a kid, don’t you?”

“Yes. Alexander. He is a... troublesome child at times.”

“Fun.... can’t wait to deal with an annoying brat.”

“It is not all troublesome,” Worf added hurriedly. “Alexander and have disagreements to do with his Klingon heritage. That would not be an issue for you.”

“True, but I can already tell it’s gonna be a hell of a time.”

“Then why are you committing to raising him if you do not wish to?”

“Hey, I never said I didn’t want ta, just that it’s definitely... well, what you said. A task.”

“Correct. I suppose I should wish you luck in fixing and raising the child.”

“Thanks... and I guess I never said thanks to you yet either... for helping me get on the away team?”

“It is nothing... do not mention it again.”

“I won’t.”

“Good,” Worf answered gruffly.

They made an odd pair of... well, Lore wasn’t sure they were really friends... acquaintances? But they seemed to work strangely well together. Lore was surprised by how interesting their conversation remained for the rest of the night, as stories about “true warriors” and Klingon rules carried through the air. Lore felt a little uneasy... did he really deserve all this pleasantness... this kindness?

But he tried to not think about it as the evening went on, and that was that...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness, tomorrow is the last chapter!!
> 
> Some of the dialogue in this chapter is a bit clunky I feel, because I wrote a bit of it really early on in the story when I was feeling inspired to. So some changes had to be made to it, which makes it kinda off. I don’t know. But I felt it was important enough to keep, even if it seems a bit weird... or maybe it doesn’t? It does to me though. Oh well. I tried to fix it the best I could but it just still seems a bit off. 
> 
> Anyways, wow, tomorrow is the conclusion, and I will start posting the sequel on Thursday and Friday! I don’t have too too many chapters ready to post of it, so there will be less frequent posts probably.


	30. A Fond Goodbye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter!! Omg... I can’t believe we’re finally here.

** Ch 30 **

“The Captain is allowing use of a shuttle for you?” Data asked, while sipping on a purple beverage Lore didn’t care to catch the name of.

“Yeah, I’m kinda surprised too. But I’m not gonna complain. Makes things easier for me.”

“Indeed,” Data agreed. “Captain Picard is a great captain, and a fair individual. It is understandable that he would attempt to assist you, especially considering recent events.”

“I guess so... how’d you even get out of trouble for helping me switch with you?”

Data looked mildly surprised at Lore. “I did not ‘get out of trouble’. The Captain reprimanded me.”

“What, that’s all?”

“Yes. I will admit, he was rather understanding. I believe he now sees how you have learned, and changed.”

Lore let out a long sigh. “Yeah, I sure have, huh...”

“I am proud of you, Lore.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I guess this is goodbye, at least for now.”

“Yes, I suppose so. You are leaving after this, correct?”

“Yeah... I figure I’ve overstayed my welcome on this ship. I’m kinda getting sick of this place anyways.”

“I do not think anyone here considers you to have overstayed your welcome, but I do understand that you may feel the need to leave. I will miss you,” Data paused. “For a long time, I never have thought I would miss your absence. But I am glad that I am able to now.”

Lore snorted. “I’ll miss you too, you nerd.”

Data tilted his head. “Nerd?”

“Just kidding. Maybe.”

“Ah. ....May I inquire about your son?”

Lore winced. “Fine, go ahead.”

“It is remarkable that Rena was able to construct an android based on your positronic brain.”

“Yeah, well you did say she was pretty smart.”

“That is true. I was wondering... how was he? As a person.”

“Really? That’s what you want to know?”

“Yes...” Data trailed off.

“Well, alright then... hm. He was insanely cheerful, for one thing. I guess a good kid overall, just a bit fucked up because of his rushed creation, plus being based on... well,  _ me _ . But he cared a damn lot about me, which I don’t understand.”

“Why do you not understand it?”

“He barely knew me! Yeah yeah, I’m his dad or whatever, but still- he has one chat with me and decides to save my life?!” Lore exclaimed.

“Perhaps it is like what you told me. That family... just  _is_. ” 

“Do I even deserve it though? All these people being so damn  nice  to me... it just doesn’t sit right.”

Data blinked. “Well, you have changed. Why would you not want others to treat you as such?”

“Just... it feels weird? If that makes any sense.”

“It is a change from what you are used to. It would only make sense that it would feel ‘weird’. That does not mean you do not deserve it, just that it is another adjustment for you.”

“Huh. That actually does make sense.”

“I am glad you understand....” Data seemed hesitant, like there was something he was debating on saying or not. All he ended up adding was, “If you are able to successfully bring your son back, what will you do next?”

“Geeze, you think I’ve thought that far ahead? Probably come and visit the Enterprise I think.... it’d be nice for him to meet his Uncle, huh?”

“Indeed. And exposure to other life forms would be beneficial as well. I-“ he hesitated again. “I have some experience in raising a child, though not too much.”

“You do?” Lore had never heard about this before.  _ Data, raise a kid?  _

“Yes, my daughter Lal. She far surpassed my abilities, using contractions and feeling emotions, but it led to cascade failure and her death soon after.”

“Oh. Dang.”

“It is alright.I cannot be sad about it. I transferred her memories to my brain, so she lives on, in a way.”

Lore doubted that Data couldn’t feel any emotions but didn’t think this was the right time to argue about that.

“Sorry,” was all he could find to say.

“You do not have to be. It is getting rather late in the day now... should you not be getting ready to leave?”

Lore checked his internal chronometer. “Oh shit, you’re right. I didn’t realize that we’ve been talking for so long.”

Data stood up from his seat. “Goodbye, Lore. I hope to see you again sooner than later.”

“I do too,” Lore said standing up to leave. “Bye, Data.”

Life wasn’t perfect, but Lore was beginning to realize it never really would be. He had friends and family who would be there for him now. It certainly was something, life. But he was finally able to say he had a good life, and that was all he’d ever really needed.

Then Data walked over to Lore’s side and paused a moment before giving him a hug. This time being hugged, Lore knew what to do. He wrapped his arms around his brother and hugged back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... just thank you so much everyone who’s stuck with me through this story!! I still feel like it’s not the best haha, but it has been so much fun to write! I’m so grateful to have people that have read this and enjoyed it! :)
> 
> Oh and I’ve posted a lil vine on my Instagram account @lore_a_lie to celebrate if anyone wants to check that out haha
> 
> Chapter 1 of the sequel, Family, will be up tomorrow! :D


End file.
